What should we know about buffer solutions?

[Nathan Min 1I]

Hello,

What should our breadth of knowledge be regarding buffer solutions? Do we just need to know what they are? Or do we also need to know how to calculate the pH of them as well (is this done with the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation)?

Thank you!

[Ryan Ma 1A]

Based on the outline on Dr. Lavelle's website, it seems like it would be good to know what buffers and how they are formed (from weak acids/bases). In terms of actually doing calculations with these buffers, I do not know if we are required to know that, but again it would be prudent to understand this concept. Moreover, I think that knowing the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation would be helpful as well since it gives us an interesting relationship between pH/pKa and pOH/pKb.