ACID - BASE BALANCE

Dr. Surjono W, MSc

Blok Sistem Respirasi

Bagian Biokimia dan Biologi monokuler

Fakultas Kedokteran Universitas
Tarumanagara
2009

Acid Base Balance

The pH Scale :

pH is defined as the negative logarithm of

the concentration of H+
pH value of a solution is defined as

For pure water,

pH log10 H log10 10 7 7

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Table 1.1

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Fig 1.10 pH values for

some fluids
Lower values are
acidic fluids
Higher values are
basic fluids

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II.B Acid-Base Chemistry

pH of a solution depend little on the hydrogen
ions generated by the self-dissociation of water,
but rather on the presence of the other
substances (acids or bases) that increase or
decrease the H+ concentration.
Acids are proton donors (e.g. H3O+) and bases
are proton acceptors (e.g. OH-)

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Acid Dissociation Constants

of Weak Acids

Strong acids and bases dissociate

completely in water
HCl + H2O

Cl- + H3O+

Cl- is the conjugate base of HCl

H3O+ is the conjugate acid of H2O
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Acetic acid is a weak acid

Weak acids and bases do not dissociate
completely in H2O
The strength of an acid can be indicated from its
dissociation constant. The larger the Ka, the
stronger the acid

Ka

A H

HA

pKa = - log Ka
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The Henderson-Hasselbalch Equation

Defines the pH of a solution in terms of:
(1) The pKa of the weak acid
(2) Concentrations of the weak acid (HA) and
conjugate base (A-)

A H

Ka

HA

or ,

H K HA
A

pH pK a log10
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or

log H log K

HA
log

HA
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Table 1.2

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Fig. 1.11 Titration curve of acetic acid

(CH3COOH)
Titration curves are
used to determine
pKa values

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Fig. 1.12
Titration curve
for phosphoric
acid (H3PO4)

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II.C Buffers
Buffers are solutions that resist changes in
pH as acid and base are added
Most buffers consist of a weak acid and its
conjugate base
Note in Figure 1.12 how the plot of pH
versus base added is flat near the pK a
Buffers can only be used reliably within a
pH unit of their pKa
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 Most effective buffering occurs where:

solution pH = buffer pKa
At this point: [weak acid] = [conjugate base]
Effective buffering range is usually at pH values equal
to the pKa 1 pH unit

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Regulation of pH in the blood of animals

Hydrogen concentration of intra/extracellular fluid
must be maintained within very narrow limit
Blood plasma of mammals has a constant pH (7,4)
which is regulated by a buffer system of:
carbon dioxide /carbonic acid /bicarbonate
Buffer capacity depends upon equilibria between:
(1) Gaseous CO2 (air spaces of the lungs)
(2) Aqueous CO2 (dissolved in the blood)
(3) Carbonic acid
(4) Bicarbonate
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Carbonate buffering equilibria

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Fig. 1.13 Percentages of carbonic acid and

its conjugate bases as a function of pH

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Fig. 1.14

Regulation of the pH of
blood in mammals

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