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CH 101/Keys 10

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CH 101
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Excercises

An excess of the sparingly soluble solid barium hydroxide Ba(OH)2 is allowed to equilibrate with water at room temperature. Under these conditions the solubility product Ksp= 4.10-18

  • Write a balanced chemical equation for the equilibrium
This works much like dissolving a salt: inasmuch as the hydroxide dissolves it does so by dissociating into ions.
As wiki does not allow me to draw proper equilibrium arrows I will just use < = > instead
Ba(OH)2(s) (+ H2O) < = > Ba2+(aq) + 2.OH-(aq)
Notice the coefficient 2, needed to balance the equation
Notice that I faithfully do write the states: (s) and (aq), because of the activity issue: for (s) activity=1, whereas for dilute (aq) activity = concentration


  • Write the expression for Ksp in terms of the concentrations.
Ksp is a glorified equilibrium constant of the above dissolution equilibrium. You can always compose those by taking activities or the products over those of the reactants.
Thus: Ksp = a(Ba2+).a(OH-)2 / a(Ba(OH)2
Notice the square that results from the coefficient above.
Notice that in the previous answer I faithfully wrote the states: (s) and (aq), because of the activity issue: for (s) activity=1, whereas for dilute (aq) activity = concentration
Thus Ksp = [Ba2+].[OH-]2
  • Calculate the [Ba2+] as well as the [OH-] of the resulting solution
Hmmm, can we do that? Actually yes, if we assume that the solid is the only source of Ba2+ and OH-. In that case we can use the balanced equation and say that in a liter of solution, for every x moles of Ba2+ exactly 2x moles of OH- must be in solution. That means we can substitute [Ba2+]=x and [OH-]=2x in the formula:
Thus Ksp = [Ba2+].[OH-]2 = (x)(2x)2
Or: 4x3= 4.10-18
Now do a bit of algebra:
4x3= 4.10-18
x3= (10-6)3
This makes
[Ba2+]= 10-6 [mol/lit]
[OH-]= 2.10-6 [mol/lit]
  • What is the pH of the solution.
We did make a bit of an assumption is this calculation, because water itself also produces a bit of OH- through a different equilibrium
H2O + H2O < = > H3O+ + OH-

Its equilibrium constant is:

Kw= [H3O+][OH-] = 10-14
Water on its own therefore has [H3O+]=[OH-] = 10-7
Obviously the barium hydroxide swamps the naturally occurring hydroxyl production by a factor of 2.10-6/10-7 = 20, so our assumption was justified.

The Kw must still be obeyed though and that gives us the key to calculate the pH, by filling in the actual [OH-]=2.10-6 :

Kw= [H3O+][OH-] = 10-14
Kw= x * 2.10-6 = 10-14
x= 10-14/2.10-6 = 5.10-9

To find the pH we need to take the negative log on base 10

pH = -10log([H3O+]) = -10log(5.10-9) = 8.3

And yes that makes the solution a bit basic

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