• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

First year chem help (1 Viewer)

Flop21

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,807
Gender
Female
HSC
2015
This thread is for asking help in regards to any first year chem.
 

Flop21

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,807
Gender
Female
HSC
2015
So I did a back titration... with HCl and NaOH, and an unknown solid carbonate.

I know how to do the calculations, finding the mol of carbonate... but what is messing up my calculations is we diluted the initial carbonate/HCl solution. We put carbonate + 25mL HCL into a volumetric flask (100mL) and filled it up to the line with water. Then we use 10mL of this solution in the titration. So how do I factor this into my calculations??
 

Flop21

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,807
Gender
Female
HSC
2015
Pls help


So here's the question and answer, I don't understand what's going on in the answer at all.



I thought you could go, find moles of the acid and base, 0.013 mol and 0.006 mol respectively. Then go (0.013+0.006)/0.16L = 0.11875M.

Then to find pH, -log(0.11875) = 0.93.

Why is this wrong? What am I doing wrong here?
 

marioyoshi

New Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2016
Messages
28
Gender
Male
HSC
2016
Pls help


So here's the question and answer, I don't understand what's going on in the answer at all.




I thought you could go, find moles of the acid and base, 0.013 mol and 0.006 mol respectively. Then go (0.013+0.006)/0.16L = 0.11875M.

Then to find pH, -log(0.11875) = 0.93.

Why is this wrong? What am I doing wrong here?
The reason why that would be wrong is because then you are assuming acetic acid id a strong acid (ie degree os ionisation is 100%)
Thus using n = cv would not find the number of moles of H+ (which is relates to pH) but only the concentration of acid (which isnt related to pH)
 

ml125

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2015
Messages
795
Location
innerwest is best yooo
Gender
Female
HSC
2016
Pls help


So here's the question and answer, I don't understand what's going on in the answer at all.



I thought you could go, find moles of the acid and base, 0.013 mol and 0.006 mol respectively. Then go (0.013+0.006)/0.16L = 0.11875M.

Then to find pH, -log(0.11875) = 0.93.

Why is this wrong? What am I doing wrong here?
You can't necessarily do that with this question, as acetic acid is not a strong acid - it does not completely dissociate in water. First, you need to find the moles of excess acid following the reaction, which would be 0.013-0.006=0.007. As shown in the answers you then use the ionisation constant (Ka) to find [H+] - as for any acid:

So, in this case:


The volumes will cancel, then rearrange to find[H+]. From the value of [H+] you get, you can find the pH.

If it were a strong acid, however, you would go (0.013-0.006)/0.16L = 0.04375. pH= -log(0.04375) =1.35
 
Last edited:

Flop21

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,807
Gender
Female
HSC
2015
How on earth am I suppose to know how and when to convert units.

E.g. when doing simple questions on photon energy and wavelength and such, they give you say 428 kJ mol^-1, but then in their working out they use it as 428x10^3. How do I know what to multiply it by? Some are x10^-9 etc.
 

InteGrand

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2014
Messages
6,109
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
How on earth am I suppose to know how and when to convert units.

E.g. when doing simple questions on photon energy and wavelength and such, they give you say 428 kJ mol^-1, but then in their working out they use it as 428x10^3. How do I know what to multiply it by? Some are x10^-9 etc.
Need to know the prefixes. k means 'kilo' (x10^3). A x10^{-9} would be nano.
 

Flop21

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,807
Gender
Female
HSC
2015
For electron configuration, so when you get up to the 4s orbital, do electrons then just also fill up 3d orbital? Instead of going 4s^2 3d^4 it's 4s^1 3d^5.

and why do some electron configurations skip 4s all together
 
Last edited:

Flop21

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,807
Gender
Female
HSC
2015
Why is BeCl2 not polar?

My understanding is the Be and Cl both have VERY different electronegativities... thus should be polar? Or is it non-polar because it's quite symmetrical?
 

Flop21

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,807
Gender
Female
HSC
2015
Calculating the concentration....


"calculate the concentration of KHP standad solution obtained by dissolving 5.10g of KHP into 250mL of water in a volumetric flask."


answers show: 1000/250 * 0.02497 (number of moles)

where did the 1000 come from?
 

Flop21

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,807
Gender
Female
HSC
2015
How does this simplify?


from ( P(Hg)^2 P(O2) ) / (HgO)^2

to this P(O2)

??

Like how does simplifying these sort of things work in chem.
 

BlueGas

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
2,448
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Why is BeCl2 not polar?

My understanding is the Be and Cl both have VERY different electronegativities... thus should be polar? Or is it non-polar because it's quite symmetrical?
Determining whether a molecule is polar or not is pretty easy by knowing the overall dipole movement. Take a look at the picture below, the dipole vectors move towards the electronegative atom. If the overall dipole movement is 0, then it is non-polar. If the dipole vectors don't cancel each other out like PCl3, then it is polar. Since BeCl2 is linear, the dipole vectors cancel out and it is non-polar.

 

BlueGas

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
2,448
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
Calculating the concentration....


"calculate the concentration of KHP standad solution obtained by dissolving 5.10g of KHP into 250mL of water in a volumetric flask."


answers show: 1000/250 * 0.02497 (number of moles)

where did the 1000 come from?
n = m/mw, which you already found to be as 0.02497 moles.

C = n/v, where n is 0.02497 and v is 250ml/1000 to convert it to litres, and that'll get you the answer.
 

strawberrye

Premium Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2012
Messages
3,292
Location
Sydney
Gender
Female
HSC
2013
Uni Grad
2018
Calculating the concentration....


"calculate the concentration of KHP standad solution obtained by dissolving 5.10g of KHP into 250mL of water in a volumetric flask."

answers show: 1000/250 * 0.02497 (number of moles)

where did the 1000 come from?
Basically, concentration is moles/volume (L), in this instance 0.02497/(250ml in L)=0.02497/(250/1000), dividing by the latter fraction equals the same as times it by its reciprocal, hence you get 1000/250
 

Flop21

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,807
Gender
Female
HSC
2015
thanks


urgent question


when finding the conjugate acid/base for something... why do some things NOT have a conjugate acid/base??
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top