Note 555 — Chapter XV · OXIDATION AND REDUCTION. II. OXIDATION BY OXYGEN, PERMANGANATES, ETC.; OXIDATION OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
Reading edition
The bivalent oxygen ions, O2−, combine with hydrogen ions (formed, for instance, by the ionization of water) and form the more stable hydroxide ions (p. 246): O2− + H+ + HO− ⇄ 2 HO−, or simply, O2− + H+ ⇄ HO−. Then, [O2−] × [H+] / [HO−] = k and [O2−] = k × [HO−] / [H+]. But since we have [H+] × [HO−] = KHOH for the ionization of water (p. 176), we also have:
[H+] = KHOH / [HO−] and [O2−] = (k / KHOH) × [HO−]2.
By substituting this value for the concentration [O2−] of the oxide-ion in equation (1), equation (2) is obtained. The constant K2 includes then the constants k and KHOH.