Conductivity of 0.001M acetic acid at a certain temperature is 5.07×10^-5 S/cm.if limiting molar conductivity of acetic acid at the same temperature is 390 S cm^2/mol.the dissociation constant of acetic acid at that temperature is?
1 Answer
We're at a warmer temperature than
We know that the limiting molar conductivity,
Thus, it is weighted by the fraction of dissociation
#Lambda_m = alphaLambda_m^0#
The conductivity you gave is not in the proper units yet.
#5.07 xx 10^(-5) "S/""cm" xx cancel"1 L"/("0.001 mols") xx (1000 cancel"mL")/cancel"1 L" xx ("1 cm"^3)/cancel"1 mL"#
#= "50.7 S"cdot"cm"^2"/mol"#
And now this can be compared to
#alpha = Lambda_m/Lambda_m^0#
#= ("50.7 S"cdot"cm"^2"/mol")/("390 S"cdot"cm"^2"/mol")#
#= 0.13#
By definition, the dissociation of acetic acid is given by
#"CH"_3"COOH"(aq) rightleftharpoons "CH"_3"COO"^(-)(aq) + "H"^(+)(aq)#
with mass action expression
#K_a = (["CH"_3"COO"^(-)]["H"^(+)])/(["CH"_3"COOH"])#
Some fraction
#K_a = ((alphacdot["CH"_3"COOH"]_0)(alphacdot["CH"_3"COOH"]_0))/((1 - alpha)cdot["CH"_3"COOH"]_0)#
#= (alpha^2["CH"_3"COOH"]_0)/(1 - alpha)# (cf. Eq. 21)
#= (0.13^2 cdot "0.001 M")/(1 - 0.13)#
And we obtain an acid dissociation constant of:
#color(blue)(K_a = 1.94 xx 10^(-5))#
at whatever temperature this is.
The actual value is around