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Carbonic acid is a chemical compound with the chemical formula H 2 C O 3. The molecule rapidly converts to water and carbon dioxide in the presence of water. However, in the absence of water, it is quite stable at room temperature .
For example, acetic acid is a weak acid which has a = 1.75 x 10 −5. Its conjugate base is the acetate ion with K b = 10 −14 /K a = 5.7 x 10 −10 (from the relationship K a × K b = 10 −14), which certainly does not correspond to a strong base. The conjugate of a weak acid is often a weak base and vice versa.
In water, measurable pK a values range from about −2 for a strong acid to about 12 for a very weak acid (or strong base). A buffer solution of a desired pH can be prepared as a mixture of a weak acid and its conjugate base. In practice, the mixture can be created by dissolving the acid in water, and adding the requisite amount of strong acid ...
A weak base persists in chemical equilibrium in much the same way as a weak acid does, with a base dissociation constant (K b) indicating the strength of the base. For example, when ammonia is put in water, the following equilibrium is set up:
In a buffer, a weak acid and its conjugate base (in the form of a salt), or a weak base and its conjugate acid, are used in order to limit the pH change during a titration process. Buffers have both organic and non-organic chemical applications. For example, besides buffers being used in lab processes, human blood acts as a buffer to maintain pH.
Carbon dioxide, a by-product of cellular respiration, is dissolved in the blood, where it is taken up by red blood cells and converted to carbonic acid by carbonic anhydrase. Most of the carbonic acid then dissociates to bicarbonate and hydrogen ions. The bicarbonate buffer system is an acid-base homeostatic mechanism involving the balance of ...
Ammonia is a weak alkali that reacts reversibly with water and alters the pH of the solution into base condition.. NH 3(g) + H 2 O (l) ⇌ NH 4 + (aq) + OH − (aq) [1] [5]. On the other hand, if sodium hydroxide is added to adjust the pH of the solution to alkali, the color change occurs faster than when the ammonia is added, as sodium hydroxide is a highly reactive compound.
The inorganic cycle begins with the production of carbonic acid (H 2 CO 3) from rainwater and gaseous carbon dioxide. [6] Due to this process, normal rain has a pH of around 5.6. [7] Carbonic acid is a weak acid, but over long timescales, it can dissolve silicate rocks