pH of acids, bases and salts
Exercise 18

A chemist has found experimentally that a 0.1 $M$ ammonium ion solution has a $pH$ = 5.12. Find the value of the $pK_a$ that he deduced from there !
$NH_4^+$: weak acid
Given $y$ $=$ $[H_3O^+]$ $=$ $10^{-pH}$ $=$ $10^{-5.12}$
The equation
$y^2$ $+$ $K_a\;y$ $-$ $K_a\;c$ $=$ $0$
produces:
$K_a$ $=$ $\frac{y^2}{c-y}$
$pK_a$ $=$ $-log(\frac{y^2}{c-y})$ =
9.24