ChemistryCode 9701
Acids and bases
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- understand what conjugate acids and conjugate bases are, and use the terms
- define conjugate acid–base pairs and pick out such pairs within reactions
- define mathematically pH, Ka, pKa and Kw, and apply them in calculations (Kb and the relation Kw = Ka × Kb is something you will not be tested on)
- work out the [H+(aq)] and pH values of the following: (a) strong acids (b) strong alkalis (c) weak acids
- define a buffer solution
- account for the way a buffer solution is prepared
- account for how buffer solutions regulate pH, with chemical equations included in those accounts
- describe, and account for, the applications of buffer solutions, including the part HCO3– plays in regulating pH in blood
- work out the pH of buffer solutions from suitable data
- understand what solubility product, Ksp, means, and use the term
- write out an expression that represents Ksp
- work out Ksp from concentrations, and the reverse
- understand and apply the common ion effect in accounting for why a compound's solubility differs in a solution containing a common ion
- carry out calculations that combine Ksp values with the concentration of a common ion