Acid rain is a matter of serious concern because most species of fish die in waters having a pH lower than 4.5 - 5.0. Calculate the H3O^+ concentration in a lake that has a pH of 4.5.

Question

Acid rain is a matter of serious concern because most species of fish die in waters having a pH lower than 4.5 – 5.0. Calculate the $H_{3}O^{+}$ concentration in a lake that has a pH of 4.5.

STRATEGY

Calculate the $H_{3}O^{+}$ concentration by taking the antilogarithm of the negative of the pH.

STRATEGY

Calculate the [latex]H_{3}O^{+}[/latex] concentration by taking the antilogarithm of the negative of the pH.

Accepted Answer

[latex][H_{3}O^{+}]= antilog (-pH)=10^{-pH}=10^{-4.5}=3 imes 10^{-5} M[/latex]

[latex][H_{3}O^{+}][/latex] is reported to only one significant figure because the pH has only one digit beyond the decimal point. (If you need help in finding the antilog of a number, see Appendix A.2.)

IDENTIFY
Known	Unknown
pH = 4.5	$[H_{3}O^{+}]$

Chapter 15

Q. 15.7

Q. 15.7

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