Final answer:
To find the concentration of NaOH needed for a pH of 12.790, calculate the pOH by subtracting the pH from 14, then determine [OH-] with the antilog of the negative pOH. The resulting hydroxide ion concentration is equal to the molarity of NaOH.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the concentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) needed to give an aqueous solution with a pH of 12.790, we must first understand the relationship between pH and pOH in the context of strong electrolytes.
Since NaOH is a strong base, it dissociates completely in water to form Na+ and OH- ions. To find the pH of the solution, we take into account the inverse logarithmic relationship between the hydroxide ion concentration ([OH-]) and pOH, given by the equation pOH = -log[OH-].
First, we calculate the pOH by subtracting the given pH from 14 (since pH + pOH = 14 for aqueous solutions). Thus, pOH = 14 - 12.790 = 1.210.
We then find the hydroxide ion concentration by taking the antilog (inverse logarithm) of the negative pOH: [OH-] = 10-pOH = 10-1.210. After finding the [OH-] concentration, this value will also be the molarity of NaOH (M) because one molecule of NaOH produces one OH- ion.