Titration Curves of Strong and Weak Acids and Bases

12/20/11

Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to observe differences in the shapes of titration curves of various strengths of acids and bases when combined, to learn about the function and selection of appropriate acid-base indicators, and to experimentally determine the equivalence point of strong and weak acid and base titrations.

Background: An acid-base titration is when one solution is added from a buret (the titrant) to another solution in a beaker below until all of the solution in the beaker has been neutralized by the titrant. To show when the neutralization is complete, an indicator is added to the solution in the beaker. An indicator is a compound whose conjugate acid or base color is different from its normal acid or base color. This indicator will show us the endpoint, or point at which the color of the indicator changed. This is usually near the equivalence point, or the point at which the number of moles of Hydrogen ions is equal to the number of moles of Hydroxide ions. A good indicator will change colors about 1pH point below an acid s equivalence point, or 1 pH point above a base s equivalence point. The titration curve should start out with a very gradual change, but around the equivalence point have a sudden and dramatic change in pH, then go back to gradual change after the equivalence point.

Materials: y y y y y y y y y CBL 2 DataMate Program magnetic stirrer 250-mL beaker Stopwatch 0.10M NH3 solution 0.10M HC2H3O2 solution Ring stand Distilled water y y y y y y y y y TI Graphing Calculator pH Sensor stirring bar Phenolphthalein 0.10M NaOH solution 0.10M HCl solution 50-mL buret 2 utility clamps Wash bottle

Procedure: 1. Obtain and wear goggles. 2. Put 8 mL of 0.10M HCl solution into a 250-mL beaker. Add about 100mL of distilled water. Add 3 drops of PHP indicator. 3. Place a magnetic stirrer in the beaker and put it on a magnetic stirring plate. 4. Plug the pH sensor into the CBL 2 and connect the graphing calculator to the CBL 2. 5. Use a utility clamp to suspend the pH sensor on a ring stand to where it will be in the solution, but not disturbed by the stirring bar. 6. Rinse a 50-mL buret with a few mL of 0.10M NaOH solution. Fill the buret to the 0-mL mark. 7. Turn on the calculator and start the DataMate Program. 8. Set up the calculator for the pH sensor. 9. To set up data collection mode: Select mode, press up, and enter. Select time graph. Change time settings to 3 in between samples and 80 as number of samples. Select ok twice to return to the main screen. 10. Turn on the magnetic stirrer. Press start on both the calculator and a stopwatch. Open the buret to a drop rate of about 1 drop per second. 11. Record the time of the color change. 12. When data collection stops, close the buret. Find the largest jump in pH from your data and record that as the equivalence point. Dispose of the solutions, then clean the beaker and buret for the next trial. 13. Print the graph of the pH vs. Time Elapsed. Print the data table. 14. Repeat steps 2-13 using NaOH titrant and acetic acid solution, HC2H3O2. 15. Repeat steps 2-13 using NH3 titrant and HCl solution. 16. Repeat steps 2-13 using NH3 titrant and acetic acid solution, HC2H3O2.

Observations: In all of the titrations, the PHP started off clear and then turned red, indicating an increase in pH. The drop rate from the buret slowed down as the trials went on, and the buret had to be opened a little further to adjust and keep the interval as even as possible. This was due to the weight of the solution in the buret decreasing because the volume was decreasing, so it had less force to move out of the tiny hole in the buret. Questions: 1. In which trial did the indicator change color at about the same time as the large increase in pH occurred at the equivalence point? In which trials were there a significant difference in these two times.

In trial 2, the indicator color change time was closeset to the equivalence point. In trials 1, 3, and 4, the indicator color change was not very close to the equivalence point. 2. According to your results, with which combination(s) of strong or weak acids and bases can phenolphthalein be used to determine the equivalence point? Phenolphthalein can be used to determine the equivalence point fairly well with the weak acid being titrated by a strong base. 3. Compare your answers to Questions 1 and 3. By examining a titration curve, how can you decide which acid-base indicator to use to find the equivalence point? You can determine the indicator to use by looking at the titration curve and finding the pH near the bottom of the steep increase or decrease in pH. A good indicator would start to change colors around this point. 4. This question was a repeat of 3 on the sheet. 5. Methyl red is an acid-base indicator that changes color at a pH value of about 5. From what you learned in this lab, methyl red could be used to determine the equivalence point of which combination of strong or weak acids and bases? Methyl red could be used to determine the equivalence point of the weak base NH3 and the strong acid HCl because this titration s equivalence point was around 6.3. 6. Of the four titration curves, which combination of strong or weak acids and bases had the longest vertical region of the equivalence point? The shortest? The longest vertical region was from the NaOH and HC2H3O2 titration. The shortest curve was from the NH3 and HCl titration as this graph was not a very good curve for us. 7. The acid-base reaction between HCl and NaOH produces a solution with a pH of 7 at the equivalence point (NaCl + H2O). Why does an acid-base indicator that changes color at pH 5 or 9 work just as well for this reaction as one that changes color at pH 7? If an indicator changes at 5 or 9, these average out to 7, so this indicator will give you the time of pH 5 and 9, of which the middle of these times would be pH 7. 8. In general, how does the shape of a curve with a weak specie (NH3 or HC2H3O2) differ from the shape of a curve with a strong specie (NaOH or HCl)? The curve of a weak species differs in that the initial pH is higher and the peak pH is lower.