Question

Will the addition of sodium acetate to an acetic acid solution change the pH of the solution? explain your answer.

Answer 1

Well...yes...

Explanation:

You add the conjugate base of a weak acid to the parent acid....and you immediately set up a so-called buffer solution, in the `pH` of the buffer is close, and maintained close to the `pK_a` of the original acid....and given that `pK_a=4.76` for `HOAc`, the `pH` of a mixture of the acid and the acetate will be approx. `4.76`...

See this old answer....

And the buffer equation is reproduced here....

`underbrace(-log_10[H_3O^+])_(pH)=underbrace(-log_10K_a)_(pK_a)+log_10{[[A^-]]/([HA(aq)]}}`

And thus....`pH=pK_a+log_10{[[A^-]]/[[HA]]}`