Acid-base without algebra:
graphical treament of acid-base systems

Stephen K. Lower - Simon Fraser University

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Introduction: why bother?

Getting started: plotting the pH

Acetic acid: constsructing the plot

Acetic acid: pH of HAc and NaAc solutions

Acetic acid: titration curve

Oxalic acid: a driprotic system

Ammonium formate: a "weak-weak" salt

Phosphate: a triprotic system

the Carbonate system

Glycine: a Zwitterion

Seawater

For more information :

• The Chem1 Textbook chapter Acid-base equilibria and calculations (a .pdf documement requiring Acrobat Reader) can be downloaded from the Digital Texts section of the ChemEd Web site.
• See the texts by Stumm and Morgan ("Aquatic Chemistry") or Snoeyink and Jenkins ("Water Chemistry").
• Log-C vs. pH plots are treated extensively in Part 2 of the Chem1 CAI lesson set Acid-base equilibria and calculations. See the Chem1 Web site for details.

© 1998 by Stephen Lower - Simon Fraser University - Burnaby/Vancouver Canada

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