Q. The first and second dissociation constants of an acid $H_{2}A \, are \, 1.0\times 10^{- 5} \, and \, 5.0\times 10^{- 10}$ respectively. The overall dissociation constant of the acid will be

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Solution:

Given
$H_{2}A\rightleftharpoonsHA^{-}+H^{+}$ $\text{K}_{1} = 1.0 \times 10^{- 5}$ ,
$HA^{-}\rightleftharpoonsA^{- 2}+H^{+}$ $\text{K}_{2} = 5.0 \times 10^{- 10}$
so overall dissociation constant of the acid will be
$H_{2}A\rightleftharpoonsA^{- 2}+2H^{+}$ $\text{K}=\text{K}_{1}\times \text{K}_{2}$
$=1.0\times 10^{- 5}\times 5.0\times 10^{- 10}$
$=5\times 10^{- 15}$