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pH
pH is a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration in water. What does that mean? Water can be ionized by the following reaction: H2 O <=> H+ + OHMathematically: pH = -log[H+] What this means is that for every tenfold change in hydrogen ion concentration, there is a one unit change in pH. The pH scale is usually said to run from 1 to 14, though the pH of say, six molar sulfuric acid is less than zero. In pure water, [H+] = [OH-] = 10-7 M. So the pH of pure water is pH 7. Adding acids or bases to water shifts this balance. Acids add H+, so adding acid raises the [H+] and lowers the pH. If we add just enough hydrochloric acid to pure water to bring the [H+] to 10-6 molar, what would the pH be? The pH of water must be close to neutral (pH 7) for fish or other aquatic organisms to survive. Similarly, the pH of water in the pore spaces of soil must be close to 7. The soil pH may also affect the availability to plants of nutrients in the soil. Water with a low pH (below about 6.5) is corrosive to metal surfaces (eg, copper pipes, steel tanks). Many lab tests require samples to be adjusted to a particular pH by adding a buffer. Likewise, media used to grow or assay microbes usually need to be adjusted to a certain pH range. A buffer is a solution that has a high ability to absorb acid or base without changing pH. Borate, citrate, phosphate, phthalate and other multivalent anions are often used to make buffer solutions. Buffers can be made quite precisely for calibrating pH measurements. We measure pH using indicator dyes, pH test strips, or a pH meter. Dyes are organic compounds with absorbances in the visible range. Some of these, such as methyl orange or phenolphthalein, will shift their conformation slightly in the presence or absence of hydrogen ions. This shift causes a change in the absorbance maximum of the compound and hence a change in color. As a solution drops below about pH 4, methyl orange turns from yellow to orange. As a solution goes above about pH 9, phenolphthalein goes from clear to pink. Mixed indicators show a range of colors in response to pH changes. You can get pH indicator strips. These are strips of paper or other material on which dyes have been fixed. When wetted these will show a particular color corresponding to the pH of the solution. A color chart is used to read the strip. A chemical cell consisting of an acid-permeable glass membrane separating two solutions will develop a voltage related to the difference between the hydrogen ion activities in the two solutions. (Chemical activity is closely related to concentration). The voltage is related to the activities (or concentrations) by the Nernst equation: E = E0 - (2.303RT/nF)log([H+]in/[H+]out) But, dont worry: Most people who measure pH do not have any idea how to use this equation. It is built into the circuitry of the pH meter, which measures and amplifies the millivolt-sized output of the pH electrode.
Conductivity
Conductivity is a measure of how well a solution conducts electricity. Water with absolutely no impurities (which really does not exist) conducts water very poorly. In real life, the impurities in water increase its conductivity. Because of this, if we measure the conductivity of water, we have some estimate of the degree of impurity. The current is actually carried almost entirely by dissolved ions. The ability of an ion to carry current is a functions of its charge and its mass or size: Ions with more charge conduct more current; larger ions conduct less. To measure conductivity we use a machine called a conductivity meter. The actual amount of electricity that a given water solution will conduct changes with how far apart the electrodes are and what temperature the water is. This quantity is expressed in units called mhos (the unit of resistivity is the ohm; mho is ohm spelled backwards). The meter has a probe with two electrodes, usually 1 centimeter apart. Most of the modern ones sense the temperature as well and electronically correct for its effects. Since the meter gives a reading which is corrected for temperature and electrode separating distance, the number is called "specific conductance," expressed in mhos per centimeter at 25 C. The SI unit of conductivity is the siemen (S) named after the French physicist and equivalent to the mho. Thus 1 microsiemen per meter ( S/m) is equivalent to 100 mho/cm. Very often, a meter will read out in S/cm or mS/cm (or just S or mS which are assumed to be per centimeter). http://environmentalet.org/env1221/phcondtds.htm 27-04-2012 21:16:12
pH and conductivity
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conductivity is the siemen (S) named after the French physicist and equivalent to the mho. Thus 1 microsiemen per meter ( S/m) is equivalent to 100 mho/cm. Very often, a meter will read out in S/cm or mS/cm (or just S or mS which are assumed to be per centimeter). Laboratory pure water has a specific conductance of about one millionth of a mho/cm. What is the conductivity of our distilled water? Wells and lakes in Connecticut usually have a specific conductance of about 50 to 500 times that. To make these number easy to write, we usually use units of micromhos per centimeter ( mhos/cm). Thus laboratory pure water is around 1 mho/cm; tapwater is usually around 50 to 500 mhos/cm.
Measuring TDS
One procedure that can be used to determine total dissolved solids is as follows: 1. Record everything neatly in your lab observations notebook. 2. Weigh a clean dry ~500 mL beaker to the nearest milligram or better. Once you have obtained a tare weight, do not handle the beaker with your bare hands (a fingerprint can weigh a milligram or so). 3. Remove the solids from at least 300 mL of a water sample by filtering through a glass-fiber filter into a clean, dry side arm flask. 4. Measure approximately 300 mL of filtered sample into the beaker. Record the volume to the nearest milliter. Dont fill the beaker more than about 60-70% full. 5. Cover the beaker loosely to prevent dust from falling in. Allow water to evaporate in a drying oven (this will take a few days). 6. When the beaker is dry, let it cool in a dessicator and reweigh. Calculate the TDS using this formula: Total Dissolved Solids (mg/L) = 1,000,000*(BD - BT)/W BD = mass of beaker after water evaporated, grams BT = tare weight of beaker, grams W = volume of water sample, milliliters
LAB EXERCISE
You will make up various solutions and measure their pH and conductivity values. You will make a series of sodium chloride standards and measure their conductivity values. For a water sample, you will measure pH, conductivity and TDS. 1. Make the following solutions by weighing out an appropriate quantity of dry chemical and dissolving in water. Make 250 mL of Solutions A-D and 1000 mL of Solution S. Calculate the mass of salt you need to weigh out for each solution on the left hand page of your lab observations notebook. Record the actual weighings on the right hand page. Solution A: 0.01 M sodium chloride (NaCl) Solution B: 0.01 M sodium carbonate (Na2 CO3 ) Solution C: 0.01 M potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH2 PO4 ) Solution D: 0.01 M sucrose (C12H22O11) http://environmentalet.org/env1221/phcondtds.htm 27-04-2012 21:16:12
pH and conductivity Solution D: 0.01 M sucrose (C12H22O11) Solution S: 0.0141 M sodium chloride solution
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2. For solutions A through D, measure both pH and conductivity. Calculate the total dissolved solids based on the mass of salt you dissolved in water. For example, if you dissolve 0.010 g of Na2 CO3 in 100 mL of water, the TDS is 0.010g/100mL * 103 mL/L * 103 mg/g = 100 mg/L. Record the results in your observations notebook. 3. Using the 0.0141 M sodium chloride solution (824 mg/L), make a series of five sodium chloride solutions with 50 to 500 mg/L of sodium chloride using the volumes listed in Table 1. Measure the pH and conductivity of these solutions and record the results in your laboratory observations notebook. 4. For one or more water samples, measure TDS. Measure the conductivity and pH for the sample(s) that you run TDS on. Record these measurements in your laboratory observations notebook. 5. Get the TDS, pH, and conductivity values for a number of samples run by students in the class. Record these values on a left hand page in your observations notebook. Table 1 Solution # 1 2 3 4 5 mL of 0.0141 M NaCl mL of de-ionized TDS, ie solution H2O NaCl content (mg/L) 6 mL 12 mL 24 mL 43 mL 61 mL 94 mL 88 mL 76 mL 57 mL 39 mL 50 100 200 350 500
pH and conductivity Notebook Pages (samples attached) Be neat, clear and complete The most important thing in a lab notebook is that someone besides you can figure out what you did and what your observations were I will be looking for the calibration and QC checks for the pH meter and the conductivity meter Be sure identify the meters that you used (eg, "Chemtrix conductivity meter") Top Home Anthony Benoit abenoit@trcc.commnet.edu
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