Polyprotic Acid Equation

[Alexandra Butnariu]

How do you write the balanced for the second dissociation of a polyprotic acid in water?

[Tejaswi Parepalli 1B]

Hi!

Usually the number equations for the dissociation of a polyprotic acid depends on the number of hydrogen we have. For example, if we look at H2SO4, we will have two dissociation equations. The two dissociation equations would be the following:

H2SO4 + H2O --> H+ + HSO4-
HSO4- + H2O --> H+ + HSO42-

The number of hydrogens (not including water) should balance out since each time we would be separating a hydrogen from the acid.

Hope this helps!

[Natalie Inglis 2K]

Hi! For a problem I went through that contained H2SO4, here are the balanced reactions I got for both dissociations.
For the first dissociation:
H2SO4 + H2O --> H3O+ + HSO4-
Second dissociation:
HSO4- + H2O --> SO4- + H3O+

[jadon_seow_3F]

I believe it is:
HA (aq) + H2O (l) ⇌ A- (aq) + H3O+ (aq)