Calculate the pH and pOH in 5.10-3M HNO3
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To calculate the pH and pOH of a solution, we need to use the formula that relates pH to the concentration of hydrogen ions (H+) and pOH to the concentration of hydroxide ions (OH-).
For a strong acid like HNO3, it completely dissociates in water to form H+ ions and NO3- ions.
The concentration of H+ ions in the solution is the same as the concentration of the HNO3, which is 5.10^(-3) M.
pH is calculated using the formula: pH = -log[H+].
Let's plug in the values:
pH = -log(5.10^(-3))
pH = -log(0.00510)
pH = -(-2.29)
pH = 2.29
So, the pH of the solution is 2.29.
Now, to calculate the pOH, we use the formula: pOH = -log[OH-].
Since HNO3 is an acid, it does not produce any hydroxide ions (OH-) in significant amounts. Therefore, the concentration of OH- is negligible.
In pure water, the concentration of H+ and OH- ions are both 1.0 x 10^(-7) M. However, in this case, the presence of HNO3 has significantly more H+ ions, so pOH is virtually 0.
Therefore, the pOH of this solution is approximately 0.
It is important to note that in a neutral solution, where the concentration of H+ and OH- ions are equal, the pH is 7 and the pOH is also 7. But in this case, because of the presence of the HNO3 acid, the pH and pOH are not equal, and pH is less than 7 while pOH is almost 0.