Need help with HW question.
You have an 11 mM acetate buffer at pH 3.76. What is the concentration (mM) of the acetate ion? Acetic acid has a pKa of 4.76.
I used the Henderson Hasselbach eq. by the difference btw the ph and pka and then the conc. of HA and A-. then with a little algebra, I got the answer
as 0.01 or 1x10^-2
is this the right way to solve.
Thanks
As far as it goes yes but to get acetate you need to solve two simultaneous equations.
equation one is pH = pKa + (base/acid)
Plug in pH and pKa and solve for (b/a).
For equation two it is
(acid) + (base) = 11
Solve for acid and base.