• Bring your 2026 application questions to our open office hours with Emil Chuck, PhD, Director of Advising Services for HPSA, and get them answered live. Personal statements, secondaries, interview prep, school list strategy. Sunday, May 17 at 9 p.m. Eastern.

TBR Error? Gen Chem: Section 1: Question 36

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Member314159

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Hi All,

I'll cut to the chase. The question reads:

3 6 . What is the final Cl- concentration after you mix 50.00 mL 0.25 M HCl with 25.00 mL 0.50 M NaOH?
A. 0.33 M
B. 0.25M
C. 0.17M
D. 0.15 M

According to TBR, the answer is 0.17M because you treat the NaOH like a pure water dilution.

When I read the question, I thought it was an Acid-Base chemistry question, and since both reactants have the same number of moles, there is no limiting reagent, and hence I thought you would have all NaCl and no Cl-. 0M is clearly not a choice, but I was just wondering for clarity purposes.

Thanks for the help.

Sorry for the long message. Cheers and the best of luck in your endeavors.
 
You are correct that the H+ completely consumes the OH-, but the Na+ and Cl- are spectator ions that remain in solution completely independent of the reaction taking place. For Na+ and Cl-, it is a dilution where 50 mL 0.25 M Cl- is diluted to 75 mL using a solution that has no Cl- ions in it, so M1V1 = M2V2 becomes (0.25)(50) = M2(75), leading to M2 = (0.25) (50/75) = 0.1667 M Cl-.

Hope this helps.

As you will discover once moderator stops by, this type of post belongs in the Q&A section. This thread will get moved there, and in the future you should post questions in that section.