Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) is a strong acid that dissociates completely in water. It releases two hydrogen ions (H+) for each molecule of sulfuric acid. Therefore, a 0.5 M concentration of sulfuric acid will have an equal concentration of hydrogen ions.
Since the concentration of hydrogen ions is the same as the concentration of sulfuric acid, the pH can be calculated using the formula:
pH = -log[H+]
In this case, since the concentration of hydrogen ions is 0.5 M, we can calculate the pH as follows:
pH = -log(0.5) ≈ -(-0.3) ≈ 0.3
Therefore, the pH of a 0.5 M sulfuric acid solution is approximately 0.3.