You are working in the emergency room of a hospital where a patient suffering from influenza has

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You are working in the emergency room of a hospital where a patient suffering from influenza has developed metabolic alkalosis, a condition in which the pH of the blood is too high. You have available a stock solution of ammonium chloride, which is used to lower the pH of the blood of patients suffering from alkalosis, but you need to know its pH. Estimate the pH of 0.15 m NH4Cl(aq) at 25°C.

ANTICIPATE Because NH4+ is a weak acid and Cl is neutral, you should expect pH

PLAN Treat the solution as that of a weak acid, using an equilibrium table as in Toolbox 6D.1 to calculate the composition and hence the pH. First, write the chemical equation for proton transfer to water and the expression for Ka. Obtain the value of Ka from Kb for the conjugate base by using Eq. 4a in Topic 6C (Ka = Kw/Kb). The initial concentration of the acidic cation is equal to the concentration of the cation that the salt would produce if it retained all its acidic protons.

What should you assume? Assume that (1) the extent of deprotonation is so small that the change in concentration of NH4+ is insignificant, and (2) the autoprotolysis of water does not affect the pH significantly. Check these assumptions at the end  of the calculation.Toolbox 6D.1 HOW TO CALCULATE THE PH OF A SOLUTION OF A WEAK ACID CONCEPTUAL BASIS Because the proton

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Chemical Principles The Quest For Insight

ISBN: 9781464183959

7th Edition

Authors: Peter Atkins, Loretta Jones, Leroy Laverman

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