The Acid-Base Properties of Water

Water is essential for

both living things and
chemical reactions.
Living things need
them to survive,
whereas some of the
chemical reactions
use water as
solvents.
2
How can we determine the ion
product of water?

3
 Autoionization of Water

We already know that water is an amphiprotic species.

This means that water can donate or accept protons in an

acid-base reaction.

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 Autoionization of Water

Water can also donate or accept proton from another

water molecule. This is called autoionization (or self-
ionization) of water.

5
 Autoionization of Water

This reaction is reversible. But what can you say about the
lengths of the forward and backward arrows?
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 Autoionization of Water

H3O+ is a stronger acid than water, while OH- is a stronger

base than water. This means that the reverse reaction is
more favored. 7
 The Ion Product of Water

The equilibrium-constant expression for the self-

ionization or autoionization of water is:

The H2O term is removed from the expression because

pure solids and liquids are not written in the equilibrium-
constant expression.

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 The Ion Product of Water

The Kw or the ion-product constant of water is an

expression that refers specifically to the autoionization of
water at 25 ºC. It is given by the expression

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 The Ion Product of Water

Similarly, the expression for Kw can be written in terms of

either H3O+ or H+, and Kw has the same value in either case:

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 The Ion Product of Water

Based on the Kw expression, the product of the

concentrations of the hydronium and hydroxide ions must
always be equal to 1 ✕ 10-14.

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In most solutions, the H3O+ and OH-
concentrations are not always equal.
Thus, if the H3O+ concentration
increased by the addition of an acid,
then the OH- concentration must
decrease to maintain the value of Kw.
This also applies vice versa.
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Determine the concentrations of the hydronium ion
and the hydroxide ion in pure water at 25°C.

13
Determine the concentrations of the hydronium ion
and the hydroxide ion in pure water at 25°C.

The hydronium ion concentration and the hydroxide

ion concentration are both 1.0 ✕ 10-7 M.
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Determine the concentrations of the
hydronium ion and the hydroxide ion in
pure water at 50 °C if the ion-product of
water at 50 °C is 3.0 ✕ 10-13.

15
A solution of an acid in water has a hydronium ion
concentration of 1.25 ✕ 10−6 M. What is the
concentration of hydroxide ion at 25 °C?

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A solution of an acid in water has a hydronium ion
concentration of 1.25 ✕ 10−6 M. What is the
concentration of hydroxide ion at 25 °C?

The concentration of hydroxide ion at 25°C is 8.0 ✕ 10-9

M.
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A solution of an acid in water has a
hydroxide ion concentration of 2.0 ✕
10−6 M. What is the concentration of
hydronium ion at 25 °C?

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A 0.0850 M solution of HC2H3O2 is 5.0% ionized into H+
ions and C2H3O2− ions at 25°C. Determine the [H+] and
[OH−] for this solution.

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A 0.0850 M solution of HC2H3O2 is 5.0% ionized into H+
ions and C2H3O2− ions at 25°C. Determine the [H+] and
[OH−] for this solution.

The concentrations of hydronium and hydroxide ions

at 25 °C are 0.00425 M and 2.35 x 10-12 M, respectively.

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A 0.0788 M solution of HC2H3O2 is 3.0 %
ionized into H+ ions and C2H3O2− ions at
25°C. Determine the [H+] and [OH−] for
this solution.

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Write true if the statement is correct. Otherwise,
write false.
1. Water molecules can also react to another water
molecule.
2. As the H3O+ concentration increases by the addition of
an acid, the OH- concentration also increases.
3. The concentration of hydroxide ions can be determined
given only the concentration of hydronium ion in a
reaction. 22
Fill in the table with the correct value.

Kw [H+] [OH-]

2.0 ✕ 10−5 0.150 M (1)

3.5 ✕ 10−14 (2) 2.0 ✕ 10−6 M

(3) 1.75 ✕ 10−5 M 0.0023 M

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● Autoionization (or self-ionization) of water is
the process where water molecules can also
donate a proton to another water molecule.

● In an aqueous solution at 25°C, the product of

[H+] and [OH−] must always be equal to 1.0 ✕
10−14.

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 Concept Formula Description

Use this formula to

Ion-product
determine the
constant for water
equilibrium
where: constant of water
● Kw is the ion-product given the
constant of water
concentration of
● [H3O ] is the
+
hydronium and
concentration of
hydroxide ions.
hydronium ion
● [OH-] is the concentration
of hydroxide ion 25
Given the reaction
Al(H2O)63+(aq) + H2O(l)→
Al(H2O)5(OH)2+(aq) + H3O+(aq)

What is [OH−] in a 0.00032 M

solution of Al(H2O)63+ (Hint:
assume both H+ ions ionize.)
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