The pKa Values of Water in Water: A Long-Standing, Tiresome, yet Soon Forgotten Issue?

Chemical Education

Authors

  • Antonio Togni Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich, HCI G 139, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 1, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2024.167

Keywords:

Acid-base equilibria, Acitvity, General chemistry, pKa of H+aq, pKa of water, Thermodynamics

Abstract

The pKa values of water and the hydrogen ion (proton) in water are 14 and 0, respectively. Yet, many textbooks of general, organic, and, to a lesser extent, inorganic chemistry provide the incorrect values 15.74 and -1.74, respectively. This column briefly introduces the long-standing issue of these two different pairs of values, the consequences it bears when teaching general chemistry, and expresses the hope that it may be solved soon.

CHIMIA Vol. 78 No. 3 (2024): Academic / Industrial Collaborations in Process Chemistry & Technology

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Published

2024-03-27

How to Cite

[1]
A. Togni, Chimia 2024, 78, 167, DOI: 10.2533/chimia.2024.167.

Issue

Vol. 78 No. 3 (2024): Academic / Industrial Collaborations in Process Chemistry & Technology

Section

Columns, Conference Reports

Categories

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Copyright (c) 2024 Swiss Chemical Society

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.