Chapter 16, Problem 16.47QP

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

Ionization constant of the given $14$ percent ionized monoprotic acid of $0.040M$ concentration has to be calculated.

Concept Information:

Acid ionization constant ${\text{K}}_{\text{a}}$:

Acids ionize in water.  Strong acids ionize completely whereas weak acids ionize to some limited extent.

The degree to which a weak acid ionizes depends on the concentration of the acid and the equilibrium constant for the ionization.

The ionization of a weak acid $\text{HA}$ can be given as follows,

  ${\text{HA}}_{(aq)}\to {\text{H}}^{+}{}_{(aq)}+{\text{A}}^{\text{-}}{}_{(aq)}$

The equilibrium expression for the above reaction is given below.

  $K_a=\frac{[{\text{H}}^{\text{+}}{\text{][A}}^{\text{-}}\text{]}}{[\text{HA]}}$

Where,

  $K_a$ is acid ionization constant,

  $[{\text{H}}^{\text{+}}\text{]}$  is concentration of hydrogen ion

  $[{\text{A}}^{\text{-}}\text{]}$  is concentration of acid anion

  $[\text{HA]}$ is concentration of the acid

Percent ionization:

A quantitative measure of the degree of ionization is percent ionization.

For a weak, monoprotic acid $\text{HA}$ percent ionization can be calculated as follows,

$\text{percent}\text{ionization}=\frac{{\text{[H}}_{\text{3}}{\text{O}}^{\text{+}}\text{]}}{\text{[HA]}}\times 100\%$