Question

Carbonic acid (H₂CO₃) is a polyprotic acid. When carbonic acid dissolves in water, which is higher, the concentration of HCO₃- ions or the concentration of CO₃²- ions?
Please explain!

Answer 1

The concentration of CO₃²⁻ ions will be higher

To explain, I want you to imagine H₂CO₃ in water.

we know that it will lose 2 of it's protons, and form 2 ions

The ion which is more stable will have a higher concentration because that ion will refuse to react with anything else, so once something turns into that specific ion, it's not going back... unless there's a more stabler ion possible

In this case, the 2 ions formed are: HCO₃⁻ and CO₃⁽²⁻⁾, drawing the structures of both the ions tells us that both of them have resonance, but the CO₃⁽²⁻⁾ ion has more resonance structures and hence is more stable