3 goes to the left to consume some of the excess H +, and in doing so, also consumes CO 3 2.
3) has now been unbalanced by excess acidity (H +), Eq. One can also think of the sequence of events resulting from dissolving CO 2 in seawater as firstly the production of HCO 3 - and H +, but because the equilibrium between HCO 3 - and CO 3 2- (Eq. 3), releasing protons and so decreasing the pH-which is where the ‘ocean acidification' actually comes from-but this drop is much smaller than for an un-buffered system. Where CO 2 is effectively neutralized by reaction with CO 3 2- to produce HCO 3. This is due to the natural capacity of seawater to buffer against changes in pH, which can be represented simply by: However, when CO 2 dissoves in seawater it does not fully dissociate into carbonate ions and the number of hydrogen ions produced (and the drop in pH) is therefore smaller than one might expect.
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