How many liters of stomach acid (pH = 4.000) will be neutralized by a 1.50 g tablet of "Bicar", a commercial tablet which is 50% flavored and 50% NaHCO3?

Question

How many liters of stomach acid (pH = 4.000) will be neutralized by a 1.50 g tablet of "Bicar", a commercial tablet which is 50% flavored and 50% NaHCO3?

Note that:

NaHCO3(s) --> Na+(aq) + HCO3-(aq)

and:

H+(aq) + HCO3-(aq) --> H20(l) + CO2(g)

So far I've determined that for the stomach acid [H+] = 1x10^-4 M, and [OH-] = 2.5x10^-11 M.

For the Bicar tablet I found there to be about 0.89 moles, assuming that 50% of the mass is NaHCO3.

Compared to other related problems I've done, I'm not sure on how to proceed with this question. It's probably relatively easy and I could be making it more complicated than it really is.

I do know, however, that the answer is supposed to be about 89 L of stomach acid neutralized, just for clarification.

Thanks for the help

Answer 1

Yes, I think you're making it tougher than it is.

You have an error in mols of NaHCO3.
grams NaHCO3 = 1.5/2 = 0.75
mols NaHCO3 = 0.75/84 = 0.0089
Then M = mols/L. You know M = 1E-4 and you know mols = 0.0089 so
L = 0.0089/1E-4 = 89 L. If you carry all of the digits that is 89.28 L but you're limited to 2 significant figures by the 1.5 g so that is rounded to 89.L.

Answer 2

To solve this problem, we need to find the number of moles of stomach acid that can be neutralized by the Bicar tablet, and then convert it to liters.

Let's start by calculating the number of moles of NaHCO3 in the tablet. You already mentioned that there are approximately 0.89 moles of NaHCO3 assuming 50% of the mass is NaHCO3.

Next, we need to find the number of moles of H+ ions in the stomach acid that can be neutralized by 0.89 moles of NaHCO3.

The balanced equation between H+ and HCO3- in the tablet tells us that one mole of H+ reacts with one mole of HCO3-. Therefore, the number of moles of H+ ions in the stomach acid is also 0.89 moles.

Now, we can determine the volume of stomach acid using the concentration of H+ ions ([H+]) you provided. The molarity (M) is defined as moles of solute divided by liters of solution.

Let's use the equation: M = moles of solute / liters of solution

We know the molarity of H+ in the stomach acid is 1 x 10^-4 M. We can rearrange the equation to solve for the volume (liters):

Volume (in liters) = moles of solute / M

Substituting the values, we get:

Volume = 0.89 moles / (1 x 10^-4 M)

Now, we can calculate the volume:

Volume = 0.89 moles / (1 x 10^-4 M) = 8.9 x 10^3 liters

Therefore, the Bicar tablet can neutralize approximately 8.9 x 10^3 liters (or 89 liters) of stomach acid.

Remember, it is essential to pay attention to the units and conversions in these calculations to ensure accurate results.