There are 5 basic laws that are studied in chemistry, of which they are also applied in

the field of chemical oceanography as basic principles. These laws were established
several years ago by various scientists who tried to express the different reactions found
in nature, in various media. These laws are: law of conservation of mass by Antoine
Lavoisier, law of Constant Composition or Definite Proportions by Joseph Proust, Law
of Multiple Proportions by John Dalton, law of Reciprocal Proportion by Jeremias
Ritcher and Gay Lussac’s Law of Gaseous Volume. (Toppr Technologies Private
Limited, 2019)

However, the ocean has several dissolved gases and several nutrients that make its
composition more complex. To understand the concentrations of carbonaceous gases
dissolved in seawater, Henry's law, put forward by the English chemist William Henry,
is very useful. This law is related to the pressure of gases dissolved in water, and tells us
that the solubility of a gas in a liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of
the gas above the liquid, and is expressed as follows:𝑝 = 𝐾𝐻 𝑀 where p is partial
pressure, KH is Henry's law constant and M is molar concentration. (Michael A.
Castellini, Jo-Ann Mellish, 2015)

The next image is about the hydrosphere requires and understanding of chemical
equilibria of several type. Acid-base reactions are integral to water chemistry (Ka and
Kb). The exchange of salts and metals between the surrounding soil and the aqueous
phase is a function of solubility products (Ksp) and complex ion formations (Kf).
Finally, solutes distribute themselves between the water and hydrophobic solutes and
sediment as described by a distribution coefficient (Kd) (Overway, 2017)
 Image 1 The Exchange of gases between air and water described by Henry´s law. Retrieved from:
Environmental Chemistry: An Analytical Approach pg. 193

Las siguientes reacciones muestran que el dióxido de carbono atmosférico en su forma

es absorbido en el agua de mar según la ley de Henry donde reacciona con el agua para
formar ácido carbónico.
La primera reacción es:
𝐶𝑂2 + 𝐻2 𝑂 ↔ 𝐻2 𝐶𝑂3
According Henry law is:
𝑝𝐶𝑂2 = 𝐾𝐻 [𝐻2 𝐶𝑂3 ]
, where the constant KH ~ 29 (atm.L/mole)
The second basic reaction along with the first dissociation constant for carbonic acid is:
[𝐻 + ][𝐻𝐶𝑂3− ]
𝐻2 𝐶𝑂3 ↔ 𝐻 + + 𝐻𝐶𝑂3− ; 𝐾1 = [𝐻2 𝐶𝑂3 ]

The third reaction and the second dissociation constant are:

[𝐻 + ][𝐶𝑂32− ]
𝐻𝐶𝑂3− ↔ 𝐻 + + 𝐶𝑂32− ; 𝐾2 =
[𝐻𝐶𝑂3− ]