9 Crack - Hsc Chemistry

Step two: Add NaOH. The strong base. They neutralise. But at equivalence? No excess base. Only the conjugate base remains. HSO₃⁻. But wait—HSO₃⁻ is amphiprotic . It can act as an acid or a base. She had forgotten that the first time she tried this question.

It wasn’t a ghost. It was a mark. The decimal point was a cold spike in her chest, the zero a mocking mouth. Her first HSC Chemistry assessment task back. She had cracked —not the exam, but herself. Two hours of staring at equilibrium constants until they swam off the page like startled fish.

It was 11:47 PM. Her desk was a disaster of coffee rings, annotated periodic tables, and the carcass of a Bic pen she’d chewed to death. Question 9 of the 9-pack stared up at her. A 7-marker on calculating the pH of a weak acid-strong base titration at the equivalence point —but with a twist: a diprotic acid. Sulfurous. H₂SO₃. Stepwise Ka values. A salt hydrolysis that seemed designed by a sadist.

Step one: The weak acid. H₂SO₃. It gives up one proton. Becomes HSO₃⁻. Ka1. Like the first domino.