Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
Calcium fluoride, (), dissolves only slightly in water: at . Hydrofluoric acid is a weak acid with . In parts (a) to (c), ignore the reaction of fluoride ions with water.
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Plan. Write in terms of each time. Only the free and ions enter .
(a) Pure water. , so .
(b) In mass. .
(c) Common ion. , so . That is more than two thousand times smaller than in pure water, and is indeed tiny next to .
(d) In acid. . From , , so only a fraction of the fluoride stays as . Then
(e) Ratio. . Acid takes the fluoride ions away as HF, so more of the solid dissolves. This is why acidic drinks attack the fluoride in tooth enamel.
Check. Solving the full mass balance at pH , with , gives the same . For (c), solving without the approximation changes by less than .
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