Acid-Base Equilibrium Calculations with the Spreadsheet

Acid-Base Equilibrium Calculations with the Spreadsheet 

Now that we have described how to draw A/B diagrams freehand, let us see how use of a spreadsheet program can simplify the task. We will start with a generally useful spreadsheet we will call A/B START. A typical acid-base situation can serve as illustration. At the computer, call up your spreadsheet program. When the spreadsheet layout appears on the screen, let us first suitably label all the columns with the quantities needed in the problem, using the first row, starting with the critical variable, pH in cell Al. Now, in the adjacent columns, enter labels for these related and pertinent concentration variables in B1 [H], in Cl [OH], and in D1 log[H], in El log[OH]. 

The next step in our exercise is to develop the expressions for [HB] and [B], the species concentrations for the monoprotic acid, HB, and its conjugate base, B. These, like all other concentrations of species of interest, are written as the product of two factors, a C, as described above. 

Construct an equiligrapH for the 0.02 M carbonate system, i.e., one that applies to 0.02 M solutions of either H2CO3, NaHC03, or Na2C03. Find 

retrieve /FR /FR /FR the A/BSTART file, and starting in FI, complete labeling columns as [H2CO3], [HCOj ], [C03 ], their logs, and finally the three pointer functions for the three solutions. 

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