Common Concentrations | phosphoricacid

Phosphoric Acids Common Concentration

To summarize, the most commonly used concentration of phosphoric acid is 85%, as this amount of such acid negates the health impacts and adverse effects that a variation in concentration can cause. Here's why:

The concentration of an acid can be defined as the amount of the original acid is dissolved in the given solution (commonly water) (Clark, 2002). The majority of industrial applications require sufficiently high concentrations. An example of this being phosphate fertilizer, and its creation through the use of phosphoric acid. Most commonly, 85-90% concentration is used in the chemical reaction of phosphate rock and phosphoric acid (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013). This high concentration is necessary, as a higher concentration would ultimately mean that more phosphates are present in the product, calcium dyhydrogenphosphate (superphosphate).

Generally, phosphate deprived soil would require large amounts of the compound to support healthy plant life. However, an excessive concentration of

phosphoric acid

in fertilizer can lead

to over fertilization,

which creates the

possibility of root

damage due

to a decrease in the net flow

of water in plant anatomy (Penn State College, 2016).

How 85% Relates to Its Applications

Generally, 85% concentration is used as phosphoric acids applications require this relative amount. In rust conversion, 85% dilution is used because of the amount of corrosion that needs to take place. In this specific application, an increase in concentration could potentially damage the metal as a more vigorous chemical reaction would take place. This is another reason why an increase in concentration could potentially be detrimental. In the food additive portion of phosphorous’ applications, 85% is once again used, although very sparingly (Science in the Public Interest, 2014).This is due to the sensitivity tooth enamel has to acids. For example, although the phosphoric acid used when adding this acid to soda is 85%, this does not mean that it constitutes 85% of the entire soda.

Very small amounts,

of phosphoric acid,

some 0.42mg/L are

present in coke to

prevent such adverse

effects of acidity

from happening (Morgan, 2015). If too much were to be present, however, this could consequently degrade enamel and potentially decrease bone health/mass (Pletcher, 2015).