Re: [APD] adding VINEGAR

[Jerry Baker <jerry at bakerweb_biz>]

william ruyle wrote:
> The acetic acid in vinegar would lower the ph. If enough is added, it would
> also pickle the fish =-O

My understanding is that adding an acid to a buffered solution of 
hydrogen hydroxide (water - the chemical name will be helpful later) 
releases CO2, and that is the net result of the reaction. For ease of 
explanation, say you have a tank of water, but it only has one molecule 
of bicarbonate buffer, and you add one molecule of pool acid (the 
reaction is the same for all acids, but pool acid is a much simpler 
compound than acetic acid). What will happen is that the pool acid 
(hydrogen chloride) will dissociate into a hydrogen anion and a chloride 
cation. That hydrogen anion will find the hydrogen anion from the 
bicarbonate and form HOH, or H2O. The chloride cation will find the 
remaining anion of sodium (assuming you added one molecule of baking 
soda to get that bicarbonate buffer) and form sodium chloride (salt).

So, in conclusion, at the end of the day you have a salt molecule, water 
molecule, and a CO2 molecule left over from the reaction. The CO2 is 
what decreases the pH. When it is eventually driven from the water the 
pH will return to its previous value, but you will have destroyed the 
bicarbonate buffer.

The chemical equation is:

HCl + NaHCO3 = NaCl + H20 + CO2

-- 
Jerry Baker
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