The titration procedure you have just performed is similar to what is carried out by water-quality workers throughout the world. they use a kit to perform titration on location instead of in a laboratory in real-life situations, workers collect water samples in a lake or stream. in lakes and streams calcium carbonate (caco3) causes alkalinity. calcium carbonate acts as a buffer, a substance that serves to resist small changes in acidity or alkalinity in a solution. when acid rain enters lake water, it can be neutralized by the bases present and thus the lake does not become too acidic. since the key ion is the hydroxide ion, the nature of the cation doesn’t matter in this case. all over the world, right now, pollution workers are measuring calcium carbonate in lakes and streams.
if a worker studied two lakes and lake x had a greater ppm (concentration in “parts per million”) of calcium carbonate than lake z, which of the two lakes would be able to withstand a greater amount of rain that is acidic? explain your answer.