Reaction of methanoic and ethanoic acids with CaCO3
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If I have a 1 liter aqueous solution that contains 15 mg/L methanoic acid and 15 mg/L ethanoic acid, what amount of calcium carbonate is needed to reduce each acid concentration by at least 50%?
The only other information given is the pKa values for each acid which are 3.75 for methanoic acid and 4.70 for ethanoic acid.
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Solution Summary
The solution shows how calculate the amount of calcium carbonate that will react with a mixture of ethanoic and methanoic acids.
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Assumptions:
a) Since methanoic acid is a stronger acid than ethanoic acid (10 times stronger, because pH is a logarithmic scale), it will react preferentially with calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate reacts with carboxylic acids in a classic acid base reaction. The more acidic the solution is (the more H+ it forms) the faster it reacts with the relatively weakly basic calcium carbonate.
b) That all of the methanoic acid will react before calcium carbonate reacts with the ethanoic acid.
c) Methanoic acid ...
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