Question

What is the pH of a .013 M `HCl` solution?

Answer 1

The pH of this solution is 1.89.

Explanation:

Since HCl is a strong acid, it completely dissociates into its respective ions when placed in water. In this case HCl ionizes to produce `H^(+) (aq)` and `Cl^(-)(aq)`.

As soon as we know that we're dealing with a strong acid, the pH can be obtained directly from the concentration of `H^(+)` using the following formula:

pH = -log[`H^(+`]

All we have to do is take the -log of the given concentration like so:

`pH = -log [0.013]`

`pH = 1.89`