Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 289: What is H+?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 289

There are a variety of ways that H+ is important in reefing. pH is a measure of the concentration of H+ in the water. Total alkalinity is the amount of acid needed to raise the H+ concentration to a specific value. A CaCO3/Co2 reactor uses carbon dioxide to raise the concentration of H+ to the point where calcium carbonate dissolves.

In fact, the list of ways that H+ is important in reefkeeping is quite long

But what is H+?

A. H+ is a proton
B. H+ is an electron
C. H+ is a proton and a neutron, combined
D. H+ is two protons and one electron, combined
E. H+ is two protons, two neutrons, and two electrons, combined

Good luck!

Previous Reef Chemistry Question of the Day:

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #288: Deionizing Resins for RO/DI

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 288 Deionizing resins used in an RO/DI have ionic charges that are permanently attached to the resin, and other ionic charges that are free to move around and potentially come out of the resin. Which of the following ions comprise the free to move around ions...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Derrick0580]

A, isolated proton

 

[Troylee]

We have you for all the answers I’m not gonna look it up! Proton if I had to guess..

 

[malfist]

ChatGPT says A, google agrees.


The correct answer is A. H+ is a proton.
In chemistry, H+ refers to a hydrogen ion that has lost its electron, leaving only a proton with a positive charge. Hydrogen ions are important in many chemical reactions and are a common component of acids. The concentration of H+ ions in a solution is often used to measure its acidity, with a higher concentration of H+ ions indicating a more acidic solution.

 

[arking_mark]

@Randy Holmes-Farley Maybe some questions that ChatGPT can't answer correctly?

 

[malfist]

@Randy Holmes-Farley Maybe some questions that ChatGPT can't answer correctly?

That's like 95% of reefing questions in my experience. I tried asking it earlier to make me a stock solution for sodium silicates and it was off (correct dosage was 12.2mg, it told me 0.00085mg)

 

[taricha]

H+ is what a proton calls itself when it wants to sound fancy.

alternate answer:
In our tanks H+ might actually be an "H7O3+ ion"?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

And the answer is...

But what is H+?

A. H+ is a proton
B. H+ is an electron
C. H+ is a proton and a neutron, combined
D. H+ is two protons and one electron, combined
E. H+ is two protons, two neutrons, and two electrons, combined

A hydrogen atom consists of a proton and an electron circling it. If you remove the electron, you have just a proton, which is also called a hydrogen ion or H+.

If you add one or two neutrons into the nucleus of the hydrogen atom, you get two other isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium, D and tritium, T, respectively. Deuterium is stable and very useful in a lot of ways. Tritium is unstable and radioactive, and is useful due to its radioactivity in tracking molecules, for example, replacing H by T in an organic molecule, then see where the radioactivity goes as the molecule moves (in a human body, in a natural environment, etc.).

B. H+ is an electron is wrong because it lacks the proton. There are few, if any, electrons in a reef aquarium not attached to a nucleus of some sort.

C. H+ is a proton and a neutron, combined, is wrong because C is the nucleus of a deuterium atom.

D. H+ is two protons and one electron, combined, is wrong. Two protons together without a neutron is very unstable. It is an isotope of helium, and would have a charge of +1, but wouldn't last a millisecond before coming apart.

E. H+ is two protons, two neutrons, and two electrons, combined, is wrong because that is the normal isotope of helium.

Thanks for playing!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

H+ is what a proton calls itself when it wants to sound fancy.

alternate answer:
In our tanks H+ might actually be an "H7O3+ ion"?

Yes, all of the ions in seawater are more complicated than the simple description because the bind tightly to one or more water molecules. H+ is certainly no exception to that rule.

This binding does have practical implications for reefkeeping. Reverse osmosis separates materials based on size, and one might expect that one could predict ion exclusion based on ion size, but it's really the hydrated ion size, which is far larger, that matters.

Here's a segment of one of my magnesium articles detailed the complexity of the forms actually present:

Magnesium is present in seawater as the Mg2+ ion, meaning that it carries two positive charges, just as calcium does. Most of the magnesium is present as the free ion, with only water molecules attached to it. It is estimated that each magnesium ion has approximately eight water molecules tightly bound to it. That is, water molecules that are so tightly bound that they move with it as the magnesium ion moves through the bulk of the water. For comparison, singly charged ions like sodium have only 3-4 tightly bound water molecules. A small portion (about 10%) of the magnesium is present as a soluble ion pair with sulfate (MgSO4), and much smaller portions are paired with bicarbonate (MgHCO3+), carbonate (MgCO3), fluoride (MgF+), borate (MgB(OH)4+), and hydroxide (MgOH+).

While these ion pairs comprise only a small portion of the total magnesium concentration, they can dominate the chemistry of these other ions. An extended discussion of these facts is beyond the scope of this article, but is should be noted that these ion pairs can have huge impacts on seawater chemistry. In the case of carbonate, for example, the ion pairing to magnesium so stabilizes the carbonate that it is present in far higher concentrations than it would be present in the absence of magnesium. This effect, in turn, makes seawater a much better buffer in the pH range of 8.0-8.5 than it otherwise would be. Without this ion pairing, seawater pH might be significantly higher, and more susceptible to diurnal (daily) swings.

 

[Dan_P]

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 289

There are a variety of ways that H+ is important in reefing. pH is a measure of the concentration of H+ in the water. Total alkalinity is the amount of acid needed to raise the H+ concentration to a specific value. A CaCO3/Co2 reactor uses carbon dioxide to raise the concentration of H+ to the point where calcium carbonate dissolves.

In fact, the list of ways that H+ is important in reefkeeping is quite long

But what is H+?

A. H+ is a proton
B. H+ is an electron
C. H+ is a proton and a neutron, combined
D. H+ is two protons and one electron, combined
E. H+ is two protons, two neutrons, and two electrons, combined

Good luck!

Previous Reef Chemistry Question of the Day:

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #288: Deionizing Resins for RO/DI

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 288 Deionizing resins used in an RO/DI have ionic charges that are permanently attached to the resin, and other ionic charges that are free to move around and potentially come out of the resin. Which of the following ions comprise the free to move around ions...

www.reef2reef.com

In outer space it might be a proton but in a reef tank H3O+ is a better description, which works out to be 11 protons, 8 neutrons and 10 electrons. Disclosure: This answer is free of any AI influence.

 

[MnFish1]

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 289

There are a variety of ways that H+ is important in reefing. pH is a measure of the concentration of H+ in the water. Total alkalinity is the amount of acid needed to raise the H+ concentration to a specific value. A CaCO3/Co2 reactor uses carbon dioxide to raise the concentration of H+ to the point where calcium carbonate dissolves.

In fact, the list of ways that H+ is important in reefkeeping is quite long

But what is H+?

A. H+ is a proton
B. H+ is an electron
C. H+ is a proton and a neutron, combined
D. H+ is two protons and one electron, combined
E. H+ is two protons, two neutrons, and two electrons, combined

Good luck!

Previous Reef Chemistry Question of the Day:

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day #288: Deionizing Resins for RO/DI

Reef Chemistry Question of the Day 288 Deionizing resins used in an RO/DI have ionic charges that are permanently attached to the resin, and other ionic charges that are free to move around and potentially come out of the resin. Which of the following ions comprise the free to move around ions...

www.reef2reef.com

A

 

[taricha]

Most of the magnesium is present as the free ion, with only water molecules attached to it. It is estimated that each magnesium ion has approximately eight water molecules tightly bound to it. That is, water molecules that are so tightly bound that they move with it as the magnesium ion moves through the bulk of the water. For comparison, singly charged ions like sodium have only 3-4 tightly bound water molecules. A small portion (about 10%) of the magnesium is present as a soluble ion pair with sulfate (MgSO4), and much smaller portions are paired with bicarbonate (MgHCO3+), carbonate (MgCO3), fluoride (MgF+), borate (MgB(OH)4+), and hydroxide (MgOH+).

If you've written somewhere about what happens to these happy family complexes of Cations + H20 molecules and the ion pairs when you raise pH (say with NaOH) and cause them to precipitate out, then I'd be interested.
Or you can save it for a future QOTD.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If you've written somewhere about what happens to these happy family complexes of Cations + H20 molecules and the ion pairs when you raise pH (say with NaOH) and cause them to precipitate out, then I'd be interested.
Or you can save it for a future QOTD.

It's a very interesting topic that I've not written anything about.

This first link discusses the process in reverse and how it impacts dissolution:

11.4: Hydration of Ions

The process of dissolving is more complicated than it might first appear. This section describes the process of dissolving for ionic compounds, which can be referred to as hydration.

chem.libretexts.org

"When NaCl(s) dissolves, 773 kJ is required to pull apart a mole of Na+ ions from a mole of Cl– ions, but almost all of this requirement is provided by the 769 kJ released when the mole of Na+ and the mole of Cl– becomes surrounded by water dipoles. Only 4 kJ of heat energy is absorbed from the surroundings when a mole of NaCl(s) dissolves."

This second link goes into far more extensive detail discussing the steps for precipitation of calcium carbonate:

Hydration Effects on the Stability of Calcium Carbonate Pre-Nucleation Species

Recent experimental evidence and computer modeling have shown that the crystallization of a range of minerals does not necessarily follow classical models and theories. In several systems, liquid precursors, stable pre-nucleation clusters and amorphous phases precede the nucleation and growth of...

www.mdpi.com

"Overall, these results provide new evidence supporting the hypothesis that pre-nucleation cluster dehydration is the rate-controlling step for calcium carbonate precipitation."

 

[taricha]

Thanks, Randy!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You’re welcome. I’d never seen that paper before looking for it, glad I did.

 

[jrd888]

If you've written somewhere about what happens to these happy family complexes of Cations + H20 molecules and the ion pairs when you raise pH (say with NaOH) and cause them to precipitate out, then I'd be interested.
Or you can save it for a future QOTD.

Wikipedia solubility equilibrium, binding constant, and the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation and you will be on your way down that rabbit hole.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Wikipedia solubility equilibrium, binding constant, and the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation and you will be on your way down that rabbit hole.

Some of these I show here for freshwater:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Metals In Limewater

This article expands on the basis of the claim that limewater may be able to deliver lower quantities of some metals compared to calcium reactors and it also provides some experimental data that demonstrates this claim.

reefs.com