If equal volumes of the following are combined, would they form buffered solutions? Why or why not?
.1M HF and .05M NaF
I'm am a bit confused about how I can figure out if these will form buffers or not, so I'd really appreciate it if someone could explain it to me. Thanks.
Answered below twice and one time with much more information.
To determine whether the mixture of 0.1M HF (hydrofluoric acid) and 0.05M NaF (sodium fluoride) will form a buffered solution, we need to consider the definition and requirements of a buffer.
A buffered solution is a solution that resists changes in pH when small amounts of acid or base are added to it. It consists of a weak acid (such as HF) and its conjugate base (such as F-) or a weak base and its conjugate acid.
In this case, HF is a weak acid, and NaF is its conjugate base. To determine if a buffer is formed, we need to check if the weak acid and its conjugate base are present in appreciable amounts and in a suitable ratio.
To do this, we can compare the initial concentrations of HF and NaF. In this scenario, the concentration of HF is 0.1M, and the concentration of NaF is 0.05M. As equal volumes of the two solutions are combined, the volume factors out of the consideration.
Now, the important criterion for a buffer is that the concentration of the weak acid should be roughly equal to the concentration of its conjugate base. In other words, the ratio of [base] / [acid] should be between 0.1 and 10 to create an effective buffer.
Let's calculate the ratio of [F-] / [HF]:
[F-] / [HF] = (0.05M) / (0.1M) = 0.5
Since the ratio of [base] / [acid] is 0.5, which is within the range of 0.1 to 10, we can conclude that the combined solution will form a buffered solution.
Therefore, when equal volumes of 0.1M HF and 0.05M NaF are combined, they will indeed form a buffered solution.