Weak Polyprotic Acids

[Maham Kazmi 2J]

Although the textbook problems only conceptually test us on the pH of strong polyprotic acids/bases, would we need to know how to solve for the pH of a weak polyprotic acid which doesn't have 100% dissociation?

[105605391]

So I am not sure what we will be tested on, but I am pretty sure one of the textbook questions does have us solve for the pH of weak polyprotic acids. To do this you would solve it using the same methodology as having a strong polyprotic acid except for the first H+ dissociation instead of just having a complete dissociation you would use a Ka1 value to find the first concentration and then the Ka2 value to find the second dissociation. I hope this helps!

[Matthew Li 1B]

we dont need to know how to calculate ka2 value for weak polyprotic acids as they do not affect the pH. We only need ka1 to find the pH for weak acids.