It has been suggested that as the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere increases, the ocean surface water will become more acidic, which will have a serious effect on fish and coral. The proposed mechanics of the acidification is 

where H is the Henry’s constant for carbon dioxide in water, K₁ and K₂ are equilibrium constants where the effect of solution nonidealities has been neglected, and we have assumed that since the solutions are very concentrated it water, the water activity is unity. Also, the brackets denote concentrations in molalities. Determine the change in pH units of the ocean surface waters that 

a. has occurred from the pre-industrial times when the CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere was 270 ppm (by volume) to the present day concentration of 385 ppm. 

b. will occur from pre-industrial times to 550 ppm CO₂, which is the value that is generally agreed upon the maximum value to avoid catastrophic environmental changes as a result of global warming.

Transcribed Image Text:

CO2(g) → CO,(1) CO₂ (1) + H₂O→ H₂CO3 H₂CO3→ HCO3 + H+ [CO₂]H = Pco₂ K₁ = [H₂CO3] [CO2] [HCO][H+] [H₂CO3] K2 =