& % " $ %&%

C
hem
F
actsheet
) ) ) ` $ $ ` ` # $ %% " ` ` $
1
ThisFactsheetcoverslogarithmsandtheiruseinChemistry.
& $ " $ & %
Logarithmsarecloselyrelatedtopowers,sobeforecontinuing,makesure
youknowandunderstandthepowerfactsinthebox(right).
Toseehowlogarithmswork,considerthefollowingexamples:
100=10
2
log
10
100=2
0.001=10
-3
log
10
0.001=-3
Sowhenwesay"whatislog
10
1000?",weareasking"Whatpowermust
Iraise10to,togettheanswer1000?" Theansweris3-solog
10
1000=3
Althoughyoucanhavelogarithmstodifferentbases,inChemistrywe
willonlybelookingatlogarithmstothebase10(log
10
).Tosavetime,we'll
justwrite"log"whenwemean"log
10
"
` & ! " %
It'seasytoworkoutlogsfornumbersthatareexactpowersof10 andit's
worthbeingabletodosomentallytosavetimeintheexamandguard
againstcalculatorerror.Butlogsforothernumbershavetobeworkedout
onyourcalculator.
Thebuttonforfindinglogtothebase10maybelabelled:
LOG LOG
10
LG
Note:doNOTusethebuttonlabelledlnorlog
e
.Thisgivesyoulogarithms
toadifferentbase-andhencethewronganswers!
Somecalculatorsrequireyoutoputthenumberinfirst,thenpressthelog
button-inothers,youpressthelogbuttonfirst,thenthenumber.Check
whichyoursisbyfindinglog100(theanswershouldbe2).
ExamHint:Youshouldnevergetanegativenumberfromeitherofthe
abovemethods.It'simpossibletofindthelogofanegativenumber-if
youthinkyouhave,thenyou'veprobablypressedLOGnotINVLOG.
" ) $ %
Raisinganumbertoa # " % & ( powermeansmultiplyingitbyitself
thatnumberoftimes-eg 10
6
=10 10 10 10 10 10
Specialcases:anynumbertothepower1isthenumberitself;any
numbertothe0gives1 - eg2
1
=2 3
0
=1
Negativepowersofanumberareoneoverthecorrespondingpostive
power-eg
Youcanalsohavepowersthataredecimals-eg10
2.156
Youfindpowersonyourcalculatorusingthebuttonmarkedx
y
(or
y
x
) - egtofind10
2.156
,typein10,thenx
y
,then2.156
(check-theanswershouldbe143.2)
WhendoingworkonlogarithmsinChemistry,youmainlydealwith
powersof10-so,afewfactsaboutthem:
Positivepowersof10areeasytorecognise-justcountthezeroes!
eg10
1
=10 10
3
=1000
Negativepowersof10areeasytorecogniseasdecimals-justcount
thedecimalplaces! eg 10
-1
=0.1 10
-4
=0.0001
Positivepowersarelargerthan1;negativepowerssmallerthan1
3
3
1 1 1
10
10 10 10 1000 10

! ! & ! ` $ & & % # $ & ` $ "
Therearetwowaysofdoingthisonyourcalculator:
Usethex
y
(ory
x
)buttontofind10tothepowerofthenumber
eg:logx=0.123.Tofindx,enter10x
y
0.123
UsetheINVor2NDorSHIFTbutton,togetherwiththeLOGbutton
OnsomecalculatorsyouhavetopressINVLOGfirst,thenthenumber;
onothersyoupressthenumberthenINVLOG.Checkwhichyoursis
byusingthismethodtosolvelogx=-1.23 (ans0.0589)
Ifanumberhasawhole-numberlog(eglogx=-4orlogy=3)thenyoucan
findthenumberwithoutacalculator:
logx=-4sox=10
-4
=0.0001 logy=3soy=10
3
=1000
Checkinganswers
Onceyouareconfidentwithlogsandcandowhole-numberexamplesin
yourhead,youcanusethismethodtocheckifyouranswerisplausible:
Iflogx=1.57,since1.57isbetween1and2,xisbetween10
1
and10
2
Soif,whenyoufoundx,itwasn'tbetween10and100-you'dknowthere
wasamistake.
Beforemovingontoapplyinglogs,checkyouunderstandtheworksofar
bydoingthesequestions.Trynottouseyourcalculatorinquestions1
and3,andinquestions2and4,workoutmentallythevaluesyouranswer
liesbetweeninordertocheckyourcalculation,
1.Find:
a) log100 b) log1 c) log10 d) log0.1 e) log0.001
2.Find:
a) log2 b) log91 c) log0.61 d) log0.003 e) log
3.Findthenumberwhoselogis:
a) -2 b) 4 c) 1 d) 0 e) 6
4.Findthenumberwhoselogis:
a) 0.674 b) 2.18 c) -2.16 d) -0.0521 e) -1.32
A n s w e r s
1 a ) 2 b ) 0 c ) 1 d ) - 1 e ) - 3
2 a ) 0 . 3 0 1 b ) 1 . 9 6 c ) - 0 . 2 1 5 d ) - 2 . 5 2 e ) - 0 . 3 0 1
3 . a ) 0 . 0 0 1 b ) 1 0 0 0 0 c ) 1 0 d ) 1 e ) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 . a ) 4 . 7 2 b ) 1 5 1 c ) 0 . 0 0 6 9 2 d ) 0 . 8 8 7 e ) 0 . 0 4 7 9
ExamHint:Rememberingthesepointscanhelpyouspotawrong
answer from keying into your calculator wrongly - and hence save
a few marks!

ChemFactsheet 66.MathsforChemists2
" $ & % ! $ # %
Sometimesgraphsarerequiredfordatathatcoveraverywiderangeofvaluesgoing,forexample,from100to100000.Oneexampleofthisis
successiveionisationenergiesforoneelement.Thispresentsaproblem,sinceifthelargestvaluesaretofitonthegraph,itwillbeveryhardtoplotthe
smallonesaccurately.
Logarithmicscalesareusedtoovercomethisproblem.Insteadoftheactualvalue,thelogarithmoftheactualvalueisplotted.Thiscanbedoneonone
orbothaxes.Thishelpsbecausethelogarithmswillnotvarysomuchinsizeastheactualdatavalueseglog100=2andlog100000=5,soitwould
beeasytofitbothoftheseononegraph.Itisusualtolabeltheaxeswiththeoriginalvaluesinsteadoftheirlogarithms;thismeansthatthescaleislikely
togoup1,10,100,1000etc.
Example:logarithmicgraphofthesuccessiveionisationenergiesofsodium.
2
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1000000
100000
10000
1000
100
&$ " ! % $ " (
"
" $ & % ! ` & " ! % " ! %&$ " ! % ! % %
Youneedtobeabletouselogarithmsinworkonacidsandbases.
Thekeydefinitionsinvolvinglogsare:
Wecanseefromthedatathatitwouldbehardtoplotalltheionisation
energiesaccurately,soit'ssensibletousealogarithmicscaleforthem.
Thereisnoneedtouseonefortheotheraxis,asthesearesmallnumbers.
Example:logarithmicgraphofthesuccessiveionisationenergiesofsodium.
Electronsremoved Energyrequired(kJmol
-1
) log(energy)
1 490 2.69
2 4 560 3.66
3 6 940 3.84
4 9 540 3.98
5 13 499 4.13
6 16 600 4.22
7 20 100 4.30
8 25 500 4.41
9 28 900 4.46
10 141 000 5.15
11 158 700 5.20
Thegraphisshownbelow.Notethevaluesoflog(IE)ontheaxisare
shownonlyforinformationhere;they-axiswouldnormallyjusthaveIE
values.
pH=-log

[H
+
]
pOH=-log[OH

] (=14-pH)
Notethat"p"hereis
representing"-log"
Example3
FindthepHofa2moldm
-3
solutionofsodiumhydroxide
Thekeyideahereisthataswearedealingwithabase,wemustuse
the twoequationsrelatingtopOH.
Inaddition,weknowthatsodiumhydroxideisastrongbase,andso
willbefullydissociatedintoions.
pOH=-log[OH

]
=-log2
=-0.301
pH =14-pOH
=14.301
Example4
A solutionofpotassiumhydroxidehaspH13.Finditsconcentration
AgainweusethetwoequationsrelatingtopOH
pOH =14- pH
=14-13=1
NowpOH =-log[OH

]
So 1 = -log[OH

]
-1 = log[OH

]
[OH

]=10
-1
=0.1moldm
3
Sincewehaveastrongbase,concentrationofthesolutionis0.1moldm
-3
Wewillfocushereontheaspectsofthecalculationsinvolvinglogarithms;
otherFactsheetsgivefurtherinformationonmoregeneralacid/baseproblems.
Example1
FindthepHofa0.1moldm
-3
solutionofhydrochloricacid
Thekeychemistryhereisthatashydrochloricacidisastrongacid,it
dissociatescompletelyintoions-so[H
+
]=0.1
SopH =-log(0.1)
=-(-1) =1
Example2
AsolutionofHBrisfoundtohaveapHof0.5.Findtheconcentrationof
thesolution.
pH = -log[H
+
]
0.5 = -log[H
+
]
log[H
+
] =-0.5
[H
+
]=10
-0.5
=0.316moldm
-3
Sinceagainwehaveastrongacid,thisisalsotheconcentrationofthe
solution.
Nowtrytheseexamples.Youcanassumeallacidsandbasesarestrong.
1.FindthepHofa0.5moldm
-3
solutionofnitricacid
2.FindtheconcentrationofasolutionofhydrochloricacidthathaspH-0.6
3.FindthepHofa3moldm
-3
solutionofpotassiumhydroxide
4.AsolutionofsodiumhydroxidehaspH14.Finditsconcentration.

1 . 0 . 3 0 1
2 . 3 . 9 8 m o l d m
- 3
3 . p O H = - 0 . 4 7 7 s o p H = 1 4 . 4 7 7
4 . p O H = 0 s o 1 m o l d m
- 3

ChemFactsheet 66.MathsforChemists2
% % %
When weak acids are considered, we must also take into account the
dissociationconstant Ka
Thesecondkeyfactneededforbuffersolutionsis:
K
a
fortheacidHA=
[H
+
][A

]
[HA]
pK
a
isoftenusedasameasureofacidstrength;unlikepH,itdoesnot
dependontheconcentrationofthesolution.
Example: hydrofluoric acidhas K
a
=6.7 10
-4
.FindpK
a
pK
a
=-log(6.7 10
-4
)=3.17
Similarlyforbases,wehavethebasedissociationconstant K
b
K
b
forthebaseBOH=
[B
+
][OH

]
[BOH]
Example:ammoniahaspK
b
= 4.74. FindK
b
4.74=-logK
b
-4.74=logK
b
K
b
=1.8 10
-5
ExamHint:AcommonstudenterroristotreatapK
a
(orpK
b
)valueas
ifitwereK
a
(or K
b
),anduseitdirectlyinthedissociationequation.
` $ " ` & " ! %
Abuffersolutionisamixtureofaweakacidanditssalt(orlesscommonly,
aweakbaseanditssalt).ThepHofabuffersolutionchangesonlyvery
littleifstrongacidorbaseisaddedtoit.
Thereareavarietyofexaminationquestionsonbuffers-seeFactsheet64
- butherewewillconcentrateonthoseaspectsrelatedtologarithms.The
keyequationforusewithbuffersolutionsis:
pH=pK
a
log
[HA]
[A

]
Example1:Abuffersolutionismadebydissolving0.1molesethanoic
acidand0.2molessodiumethanoatein1dm
3
distilledwater.Findits
pH
(K
a
forethanoicacid=1.78 10
-5
)
The key chemistry here is that we can assume the acid is effectively
undissociated(itwoulddissociateverylittleanyway,anddissociationis
furthersupressedbythepresenceofethanoateionsfromthesalt).This
meanswecanassume:

[CH
3
COO

]istheoriginalconcentrationofthesalt
[CH
3
COOH]istheoriginalconcentrationoftheacid
Wehave:[CH
3
COO

] = 0.2 [CH
3
COOH]=0.1 pK
a
=-logK
a
=4.75
pH=4.75-log(0.1/0.2)
=4.75-log0.5
=5.05
ExamHint :Youmaycomeacrosstheequationforthebuffersolution
inslightlydifferentformats.It'sbesttochooseoneformatandstickto
it - trying to remember more than one is likely to lead to mistakes.
If[HA]=[A

],thenpH=pK
a
This relationship just comes from the fact that if [HA] = [A

], then
[HA]/[A ]=1,andlog1=0.Soifyouforgetit,youcanworkitoutagain
-butit'squickertobeabletorememberitinanexam!
Example2:Abuffersolutionismadebymixing50cm
3
of each of
0.1moldm
-3
methanoicacidand0.1moldm
-3
potassium methanoate.
ItspHis3.74.Findtheaciddissociationconstantformethanoicacid.
Theacidandsalthaveequalconcentrations,sopH=pK
a
So pK
a
=

3.74
logK
a
=-3.74
K
a
=1.82 10
-4
Note that if you hadn't noticed that the acid and salt had the same
concentrations,youwouldhaveneededtofindtheconcentrationofeach
(0.05foreach,sincetheoriginalsolutionsweredilutedbyafactorof2)
andthenputthenumbersintotheequation.
Nowtrytheseexamples
1. Nitrous acid (HNO
2
) has pK
a
=3.35
a) Find K
a
b) Find the pH of a 0.5 mol dm
-3
solution of nitrous acid
# " ) %
TocalculatethepHofaweakacid,youmustfirstcalculate[H
+
].Todothis,
youusetheaciddissociationexpressionandthefollowingassumptions:
[H
+
]=[A ],sothetopofthefractionbecomes[H
+
]
2
Thisiseffectivelyassumingtherearenoothersourcesofeitherionin
thesolution
[HA]=originalconcentrationofacid
Thisisassuminganextremelysmalldegreeofdissociation-sothatthe
concentration of undissociated acid is almost the same as the initial
concentration.
1.78 10
-5
=
1.78 10
-5
=
[H
+
]
2
0.5
[H
+
][CH
3
COO

]
[CH
3
COOH]
Example.CalculatethepHofa0.5moldm
-3
solutionofethanoicacid
(K
a
=1.78 10
-5
)
Step1:
Step2:Rearrangetheequation
(1.78 10
-5
) 0.5=[H
+
]
2
Step3:Squareroottofind[H
+
]
[H
+
]= =0.00298
Step4:FindpH
pH=-log[H
+
]=2.53
-5
1.78 10 0.5
pK
b
=-logK
b
pK
a
=-logK
a
Nowtrytheseexamples
1. A acidic buffer solution contains equal concentrations of an acid,HA,
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3
b) Find the pH of a 0.5 mol dm
-3
solution of nitrous acid
2. Methanamine has pK
b
=3.36
a)Find K
b
0.1 mole of methanamine is dissolved in 1 dm
3
of water.
b) Assuming the degree of dissociation of methanamine is very low, and
there are no other significant sources of OH

, find [OH

]
c) Find the pH of this solution
1 . a ) 4 . 4 7 1 0
- 4
b ) 1 . 8 2 . a ) 4 . 3 7 1 0
- 4
2 . b ) S a m e a p p r o a c h a s f o r a n a c i d : [ O H

]
2
/ 0 . 1 = K
b
T h i s g i v e s [ O H

] = 6 . 6 1 1 0
- 3
2 . c ) p H = 1 4 - p O H . p O H = 2 . 2 s o p H = 1 1 . 8
and its sodium salt. Its pH is 4.61. Find K
a
for HA
2. A buffer solution is 0.2 mol dm
-3
with respect to ethanoic acid and
0.3 mol dm
-3
with respect to sodium ethanoate. Find its pH
(K
a
for ethanoic acid = 1.78 10
-5
)
3. A buffer solution is 0.3 mol dm
-3
with respect to acid HA. It also
contains the sodium salt of the acid. The pH of the solution is 6.2
Find the concentration of the sodium salt in the solution
(K
a
for HA = 1.1 10
-7
).
1 . 2 . 4 5 1 0
- 5
2 . 4 . 9
3 . F i r s t f i n d l o g ( [ a c i d ] / [ s a l t ] ) = 0 . 7 6 T h e n f i n d [ a c i d ] / [ s a l t ] = 5 . 7
S o [ s a l t ] = [ a c i d ] / 5 . 7 = 0 . 0 5 m o l d m
- 3
Acknowledgements: This Factsheet was researched and written by Cath Brown Curriculum Press, Bank House, 105 King Street, Wellington, TF1 1NU
ChemistryFactsheets may be copied free of charge by teaching staff or students, provided that their school is a registered subscriber.
No part of these Factsheets may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any other form or by any other means, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISSN 1351-5136
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