Precise Conductance Measurements on Dilute Aqueous Solutions of Sodium and Potassium Hydrogenphosphate and Dihydrogenphosphate

Precise conductance measurements are reported on dilute aqueous solutions of the sodium and potassium salts of orthophosphoric acid at 25 ^∘C. Conductance measurements on solutions of electrolytes such as these phosphate salts that exist in solution as complicated mixtures of ions have previously proved difficult to interpret. To overcome this, a mathematical method has been developed to calculate the concentrations of all the species in the aqueous system M₃PO₄/M₂HPO₄/M₂HPO₄/H₃PO₄ (M = Na or K) over a continuous range of stoichiometries. The Lee–Wheaton conductance equation has been used to interpret the conductance of these multicomponent solutions in terms of the limiting ionic conductances and concentrations of all the ions in the solution. The limiting molar conductances of the ions H₂PO₄ ⁻ and HPO₄ ²⁻ and the ion-pair formation constants of these ions with sodium and potassium ions were determine This work has enabled the accurate determination of solution parameters for the important hydrogenphosphate ions in water and provides an excellent example of the use of an advanced conductance theory in the analysis of the conductance of multicomponent electrolyte systems.