(1)425ml of a saturated solution of lanthanum iodate, La(IO_3)_3, has 2.93 xx 10^-4 mole of La^(3+) (a)what is the concentration of IO_3^-? (b)calculate the solubility product of lantham iodate?

1 Answer
Feb 9, 2016

Here's what I got.

Explanation:

So, you know that you're dealing with a "425-mL" sample of a saturated solution of lanthanum(III) iodate, "La"("IO"_3)_3.

You also know that this solution contains 2.93 * 10^(-4) moles of lanthanum(III) cations, "La"^(3+).

Use this information to find the molarity of the lanthanum(III) cations - do not forget that molarity uses liters of solution!

color(blue)(c = n/V)

["La"^(3+)] = (2.93 * 10^(-4)"moles")/(425 * 10^(-3)"L") = 6.89 * 10^(-4)"M"

Now, the equilibrium reaction that describes the partial dissociation of lanthanum iodate in aqueous solution looks like this

"La"("IO"_3)_text(3(s]) rightleftharpoons "La"_text((aq])^(3+) + color(red)(3)"IO"_text(3(aq])^(-)

Notice that you have a 1:1 mole ratio between lanthanum(III) iodate and the lanthanum(III) cations. This tells you that every mole of the solid that dissolves in solution will produce 1 mole of lanthanum(III) cations.

Likewise, the 1:color(red)(3) mole ratio that exists between the solid and the iodate anions, "IO"_3^(-), tells you that every mole of the solid that dissolves in solution will produce color(red)(3) moles of iodate anions.

So, using this mole ratio, you can say that the molarity of the iodate anions will be color(red)(3) times higher than that of the lanthanum(III) cations.

["IO"_3^(-)] = color(red)(3) xx ["La"^(3+)]

["IO"_3^(-)] = color(red)(3) xx 6.89 * 10^(-4)"M" = color(green)(2.07 * 10^(-3)"M"

The expression of the solubility product constant, K_(sp), for lanthanum(III) iodate will look like this

K_(sp) = ["La"^(3+)] * ["IO"_3^(-)]^color(red)(3)

Plug in your values to get

K_(sp) = 6.89 * 10^(-4) * (2.07 * 10^(-3))^color(red)(3)

K_(sp) = color(green)(6.12 * 10^(-12))

The answers are rounded to three sig figs.