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   log 10 H    log 10 10 7  7

FK-UNTAR 2
Table 1.1

FK-UNTAR 3
Fig 1.10 pH values for
some fluids

• Lower values are

acidic fluids
• Higher values are
basic fluids

FK-UNTAR 4
 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-)

FK-UNTAR 5
 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

FK-UNTAR 6
 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 
 
pKa = - log Ka
HA
FK-UNTAR 7
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 
 
H   K A 


HA
   log K

 log
HA
Ka
HA
, or , a 
or log H a
A 


pH  pK a  log 10
A 


HA
FK-UNTAR 8
Table 1.2

FK-UNTAR 9
 Fig. 1.11 Titration curve of acetic acid
(CH3COOH)

• Titration curves are

used to determine
pKa values

FK-UNTAR 10
Fig. 1.12

Titration curve
for phosphoric
acid (H3PO4)

FK-UNTAR 11
 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 pKa
• Buffers can only be used reliably within a
pH unit of their pKa
FK-UNTAR 12
• 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

FK-UNTAR 13
FK-UNTAR 14
 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
FK-UNTAR 15
Carbonate buffering equilibria

FK-UNTAR 16
Fig. 1.13 Percentages of carbonic acid and
its conjugate bases as a function of pH

FK-UNTAR 17
 Fig. 1.14

Regulation of the pH of
blood in mammals

FK-UNTAR 18