Question

A solution buffered at a pH of 5.00 is needed in an experiment. Can we use acetic acid and sodium acetate to make it? If so, how many moles of NaC2H3O2 must be added to a 1.0L of a solution that contains 1.0 mol HC2H3O2 to prepare the buffer. The Ka of acetic acid is 1.8x10^-5.

HC2H3O2 + H2O = H3O+ + C2H3O2

I got an answer of 1.82 moles C2H3O2

Answer 1

That's probably right. If I use 4.76 for pKa for acetic acid and plug in 1.82 for mols base and 1 for mols acid, I get pH 5.02. Using pKa 4.74 gives 5.00.