## Homework 6E.3

Jessica Booth 2F
Posts: 101
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:18 am

### Homework 6E.3

The question is: Calculate the pH of each of the following solutions of diprotic acids at 25 $^{\circ}C$ ignoring second deprotonations only when the approximation is justified. How do you tell if ignoring the second deprotonation is justified?

SnehinRajkumar1L
Posts: 101
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2019 12:15 am

### Re: Homework 6E.3

I believe if the Ka for the second dissociation is small enough, you can ignore the second one because little to no acid will deprotonate.

JChen_2I
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: Homework 6E.3

I think if the second Ka value is less than 10^-3 then the second protonation can be ignored

Alex Chen 2L
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:21 am

### Re: Homework 6E.3

According to the textbook, most polyprotic acids are weak acids even from the first deprotonation, so the second and following deprotonations have little effect on the pH of the solution. In numbers, if Ka2 is less than 1/1000th of Ka1, then the acid can be essentially be treated as a monoprotic acid in terms of pH calculation. The only common polyprotic acid where you would actually add the H30+ concentrations for both dissociations would be sulfuric acid since it is a strong acid in its first deprotonation.