ACID-BASE TITRATIONS
Introduction
In this activity you will be tasked with measuring the pH of an initially acidic solution as you gradually base to it until
well past the point of neutralisation.
p
Mentally sketch the shape of the graph you would expect. There is a good change you drew a steadily increasing line
H
(straight or curved) something like this the top picture. If this is what you pictured you would be both wrong and in
good company!
What we find is that we actually get something more like the lower of the two pictures and that the exact shape
changes in ways that are very specific to the combination of strong/weak acid/base Vol.
used.
base
In this experiment you will conduct acid-base titrations with each of the 4 possible added
combinations of strong/weak acid/base.
The point of inflection where the gradient starts to decrease (generally the middle of
the steepest part) of the graph is called the equivalence point and represents the
point at which there are stoichiometrically equal amounts of acid and base…i.e. the
base has just neutralised all of the acid. Sometimes the pH of this point is 7,
sometimes it is not!
Basic Procedure
You will need to follow this procedure for each combination of ethanoic/hydrochloric acid and sodium
hydroxide/ammonia.
1. Fill a burette with 1.0 M base secure to a retort stand.
2. Fix a drop-counter in place below the burette, and hook it up to the data-logger.
3. Using a measuring cylinder, transfer 25 cm 3 of 1.0 M acid into a 100 cm 3 beaker and clamp it in place below the
burette. Place the pH probe (hooked up to data logger) in the beaker.
4. Start the data logger and then open the tap on the burette to allow a steady, drop-wise flow of base, stirring the
contents continuously to ensure they are well mixed.
5. Stop when the burette reaches 50 cm3.
Make sure you have a copy of the data before you leave the lesson.
Analysis
You will need to use a spreadsheet program as you will be collecting a lot of data.
1. Use your data to calculate the volume of a drop and convert all your tables of data to ‘volume’ rather than
drops.
2. For each set of data draw a graph of pH vs volume of base added and add a ‘moving average’ trendline to
iron out some of the wrinkles and identify the equivalence point.
3. Explain as fully as you can:
a. The general ‘s’ shape of the curves.
b. The steepness around the point of inflexion.
c. The difference in gradient/shape of the bottom part for the weak and strong acid.
d. The difference in the gradient/shape of the top for the weak and strong base.
e. The difference in the pH of the equivalence points.
f. The reason the base does not affect (much) the shape of the bottom bit and the acid does not affect
(much) the shape of the top bit.
Jonathan Field, http://mrjdfield.edublogs.org
Jonathan Field, http://mrjdfield.edublogs.org
