pKA vs pH

[SuryaDham 3E]

how do you differenitate between pKA and pH as metrics of measruing the strength of an acid? when do you use each?

[Hannah Jin 1J]

pKa is the strength/dissociation property of a weak acid while pH is the property of a whole system/solution.

[Sarah Hong 2K]

pKA shows the dissociation of an acid whereas pH shows the acidity and alkalinity of something.

[austinchun]

pKa is a number used to determine how strong or how weak a weak acid is. pH is a measure of how acidic or basic a substance is. pH can be found with the concentration of H30+ or OH- while pKa can be found through the -log of the ka value.

[Meia Schram 1J]

Hello,

pKa shows us how strong the acid is while pH can tell us whether it is a base, acid, or neutral.

[Ethan Mai 1D]

pKA is usually associated with weak acids. The higher the pKA, the lower KA is, and the weaker the acid is. On the other hand, lower pKA means higher KA, which indicates stronger acidic character. I hope this helps!

[Neeti Indiresan 3I]

pKa is used for weak acids that don't fully dissociate in solution. Since they don't fully dissociate, we need to calculate pKa to determine how much they dissociated before taking the -log value of it. On the other hand, strong acids use pH since they fully dissociate in solution, therefore the concentration of H3O+ is sufficient to take the -log and determine the acidity.

[Matthew Li 1B]

pka is for weak acids while ph is for stong acids

[Joan Moci 1J]

The pka tells us the strength of the acid weak acid, ie it tells us the equilibrium constant for that acid (the ka). The pH on the other hand tells us the concentration of H+ (or H3O+) in the water.