Chapter 2, Problem 18P

Interpretation Introduction

To calculate:

The concentration of chloride in the gastric juice.

Introduction:

The dissociation reaction of a strong acid for example HCl is as follows:

  $\text{HCl}\to {\text{H}}^{+}+{\text{Cl}}^{-}$

This means it completely dissociates into hydrogen and chloride ion.

For such solutions, the concentration of hydrogen ion will be equal to the concentration of chloride ion.

Or,

  $\left[{\text{H}}^{+}\right]=\left[{\text{Cl}}^{-}\right]$

The pH of the solution is defined as negative log of hydrogen ion concentration. It is mathematically represented as follows:

  $\text{pH}=-\log \left[{\text{H}}^{+}\right]$

Here, $\left[{\text{H}}^{+}\right]$ is the concentration of hydrogen ions in the solution.