Question #fdd69
1 Answer
The answer is (a) yellow, green, blue.
Explanation:
Bromothymol blue acts as a weak acid in solution.
You can write the equilibrium reaction for the ionization of any acid indicator like this
#"HIn"_text((aq]) + "H"_2"O"_text((l]) rightleftharpoons "H"_3"O"_text((aq]) + "In"_text((aq])^(-)#
The color of the solution will depend on whether the weak acid form,
In other words, when the acid is mostly undissociated, i.e. you have more
When the acid id mostly dissociated, i.e. you have more
To determine what pH will cause the solution to change colors, take a look at the expression of the acid dissociation constant,
#K_a = (["H"_3"O"^(+)] * ["In"^(-)])/(["HIn"])#
When this equilibrium is established, the pH of the solution will be equal to the
That happens because a lower pH means a higher concentration of hydronium ions,
The dominant species in the solution will thus be
On the other hand, when pH exceeds
This means that the equilibrium will shift right so that more acid molecules will give off their proton to form hydronium ions and the conjugate base
If the pH is high enough, like you have here (a few units over
Depending on the indicator, at
Here's a video illustrating the bromothymol blue solution color changes