Ok Matt, it changes the diss. constant but not to "pretty acidic". I just
did quick and dirty expt. at home with pH papers and sat. NaCl.

I got a pH of between 5.5-6.0

Alistair

on 9/1/04 3:17 pm, Matthew wrote:

> Salt (NaCl, MgCl2, etc) added to water will cause the water to ionize
> into OH- and H3O+ ions (plus the salt ions). More salt = more H3O+ ions
> = more acidic pH.  I would take it as pretty acidic, but again variable
> on salt concentration.
>
> Salt on it's own doesn't have a pH becasue it is a solid...
> Matthew
> Chemist (soon to be plumber- at least i'd be making $$$)
>
> Alistair Bell wrote:
>
>> off the top of my head...
>>
>> :)
>>
>> NaCl in solution does not supply any additional H+ or OH- ions to "create" a
>> pH.
>>
>> Whether NaCl affects the dissociation constant of H2O I cannot say, but I
>> would guess that the road salt solution would have pretty close to the pH of
>> whatever water the salt was dissolved in.
>>
>> The rain/snow would be on the acid side I'd say, so the salt solution would
>> be likewise.
>>
>>
>> Alistair
>>
>> --
>> '82 Westy -> diesel converted to gas in '94
>> albell@uvic.ca
>> http://members.shaw.ca/albell
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> on 9/1/04 2:32 pm, Jonathan Farrugia wrote:
>>
>>
>>> does anyone know the approximate pH range of a road salt solution?  i know
>>> i should remember that from one of my chemistry classes but i can't
>>> remember and i don't have a book around to look it up.  i did some
>>> google searches but came up empty.
>>>
>>> jonathan
>>
>>