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can pH or pOH ever be zero or negative?
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Topic: can pH or pOH ever be zero or negative? (Read 18839 times)
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Faisal
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Posts: 36
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can pH or pOH ever be zero or negative?
«
on:
March 02, 2008, 03:16:23 PM »
I was solving acid-base probs for my exam...I noticed in the answers "pH=-0.3"...which means pH can be negative.
But then there was a question where conc. of OH- was 1M.Therefore pOH=-log 1 which is 0.But in the answers it said "pOH=1 and pH=14"....how is that possible...isn't pH+pOH=14...1+14=15!!!
Any comments?
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Arkcon
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Re: can pH or pOH ever be zero or negative?
«
Reply #1 on:
March 02, 2008, 03:24:46 PM »
Wikipedia has a fair explanation for very low pH values, some as low as -3.5, or even -5. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH#Explanation
Though I would like to see the problem you've been given that gives a pH of -0.3, you might have made an error, given that the explanation for superacids and superbases implies they are non-ideal.
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Last Edit: March 02, 2008, 05:40:47 PM by Arkcon
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Hey, I'm not judging. I just like to shoot straight. I'm a man of science.
Yggdrasil
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Re: can pH or pOH ever be zero or negative?
«
Reply #2 on:
March 02, 2008, 03:26:12 PM »
Yes, pH can be negative if [H
+
] > 1M.
The second part is probably a typo. If [OH
-
] = 1M, then pOH = 0 and pH = 14.
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Faisal
Regular Member
Posts: 36
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Re: can pH or pOH ever be zero or negative?
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Reply #3 on:
March 02, 2008, 03:52:06 PM »
ohk...Thank you very much
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can pH or pOH ever be zero or negative?