Question

An ecologist takes water samples from three different lakes in a mining area (A, B, and C). The hydrogen ion concentrations are 1 × 10–6 M, 1 × 10–5 M, and 1 × 10–4 M for lakes A, B, and C, respectively. What is the pH of Lake B?

Answer 1

Answer: The pH of Lake B is 5.

Explanation:

pH is defined as negative logarithm of hydrogen ion concentration. It is basically defined as the power of hydrogen ions in a solution.

Mathematically,

$pH=-\log[H^+]$

We are given:

Hydrogen ion concentration of Lake A, $[H_A]=1\times 10^{-6}M$

Hydrogen ion concentration of Lake B, $[H_B]=1\times 10^{-5}M$

Hydrogen ion concentration of Lake C, $[H_C]=1\times 10^{-4}M$

Putting values of hydrogen ion concentration for Lake B in above equation, we get:

$pH=-\log(10^{-5})\\\\pH=5$

Hence, the pH of Lake B is 5.