Chapter 8.D, Problem 41E

Toxic Dumping in Acidified Lakes. Consider a situation in which acid rain has heavily polluted a lake to a level of pH 4. An unscrupulous chemical company dumps some acid in to the lake illegally Assume that the lake contains 100 million gallons of water and that the company dumps 100,000 gallons of acid with pH 2.

a.What is the hydrogen ion concentration, [H⁺], of the lake polluted by acid rain alone?

b.Suppose that the unpolluted lake, without acid rain, would have pH 7. If the lake were then polluted by company acid alone (no acid rain), what hydrogen ion concentration, [H⁺], and pH would it have?

c. What is the hydrogen ion concentration, [H'], after the company dumps the acid into the acid rain-polluted lake (pH 4)? What is the new pH of the lake?

d. If the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can test for changes in pH of only 0.1 or greater, could the company’s pollution be detected?