Question

What is the equilibrium constant expression for the reaction of acetic acid (CH3COOH) with water to produce the acetate ion (CH3COO-) and the hydronium ion (H3O+) at a specific temperature, given the concentration of each species at equilibrium?

Answer 1

The reaction of acetic acid  CH3COOH  with water can be represented as follows:CH3COOH + H2O  CH3COO- + H3O+To find the equilibrium constant expression  Kc  for this reaction, we use the concentrations of the species at equilibrium. The expression is given by:Kc =  [CH3COO-] * [H3O+]  / [CH3COOH]where [CH3COO-], [H3O+], and [CH3COOH] represent the equilibrium concentrations of the acetate ion, hydronium ion, and acetic acid, respectively. Note that the concentration of water is not included in the expression, as it is a pure liquid and its concentration remains constant during the reaction.