COMPARISON OF THE ACIDITY OF FRUIT JUICES I.

Introduction Fruit juices contain different organic acids causing them to be sour in taste and the most common acid present is citric acid, C6H8O7. Acid base titration is used to determine the concentration of acidic or basic solution by neutralizing the solution with an acid or base with known concentration. Molarity is another way of expressing concentration. It is defined as number of moles of solute dissolved in a liter solution. It is expressed as M=mole, solute / volume, solution. In order to detect if the reaction is complete, an indicator is added to the solution being titrated. It is a compound which changes its color depending on the pH of the solution. In this experiment, phenolphthalein is used as the indicator of the solutions. Phenolphthalein changes its color from pink to red if the solution is basic and colorless if the solution is acidic. The choice of the right indicator depends on its capacity to change its color at a pH that corresponds to the pH of the solution when the titration is complete. Equivalence point of titration is the stage wherein equivalent quantities of standard solution and unknown have been mixed. When the solution turns pink, the titration is complete and reached its endpoint. This experiment aims to give knowledge on the preparation and standardization of NaOH solution also, in determining the acidity of fruit juices using the standardized NaOH solution. II. Materials A. Reagents 0.50g NaOH pellets 0.150g potassium acid phthalate Phenolphthalein 5.00mL each fruit juice sample B. Apparatus 50-mL burette 10-mL pipette 250-mL volumetric flask 250-mL Erlenmeyer flask 250-mL beaker Electronic top loading balance Iron stand Iron clamp White background C. Set-up III. Procedure

A. Preparation of NaOH solution An amount of 0.50g NaOH pellets was dissolved into 250mL distilled water to produce 0.050M NaOH solution. B. Standardization of NaOH solution 0.150g of potassium acid phthalate was weighed in two 250ml Erlenmeyer flasks. Each was dissolved in 30mL distilled water. Three drops of phenolphthalein were added in the solution. The potassium acid phthalate solutions were titrated using the prepared NaOH solution. C. Determination of acidity of fruit juice samples Four samples of 5.00mL coming from 2 different fruit juices were prepared in separate Erlenmeyer flasks. Each sample was diluted with 20mL distilled water. Three drops of phenolphthalein were added to the solution. The four fruit juice samples were titrated using the standardized NaOH solution. IV. Data and Obserations Table 1. Standardization of NaOH solution Mass of potassium acid phthalate, g Volume of NaOH used, mL Molarity of NaOH solution, M Average Molarity of NaOH solution, M Trial 1 0.150 12.00 0.061 0.060 Trial 2 0.150 12.60 0.058

Table 2. Titration of fruit juice samples with NaOH solution First sample, 350mL Trial 1 Trial 2 5.00 5.00 3.00 3.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.67 Second sample, 250mL Trial 1 Trial 2 5.00 5.00 2.80 2.80 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.48

Volume of fruit juice sample, mL Volume of NaOH used, mL Molarity of citric acid, M Average Molarity of citric acid, M Amount of citric acid per pack, g V. Discussion

Refer to Table 1. This table shows the standardization of NaOH solution. A mass of 0.150g potassium acid phthalate was used to determine the molarity of the prepared NaOH solution. An amount of 12.00mL and 12.60mL NaOH solution from the two trials, respectively were used to transform the pH of potassium acid phthalate into its neutral form or basic form. Using the mass of potassium acid phthalate, the mole of NaOH was calculated. The molarity of NaOH solution

was calculated using the formula given. The average molarity of the two trials is 0.060 M. The chemical reaction involved is: NaOH + HKC8H4O4 NaKC8H4O4 + H2O. Refer to Table 2. This Table shows the titration of fruit juice samples using NaOH solution. The first fruit juice sample, Smart C, used 3.00mL of NaOH solution to change its pH level to neutral or basic. The molarity of the citric acid in the juice for every 5.00mL is 0.01M. Using the molarity formula, there is 0.67g citric acid in every 350mL Smart C juice. This means that 0.19% of the total pack is citric acid. The second sample, Zest-o orange, used 2.80mL NaOH solution to become neutral. The molarity of the citric acid in the juice for every 5.00mL is 0.01M and for every 250mL pack, there is 0.48g citric acid or 0.19% of the total pack is citric acid. The chemical reaction involved is: 3NaOH + C6H8O7 3H2O + Na3C6H7O7. The dark color of fruit juices might be a source of error. It is hard to see the change in color especially when phenolphthalein is the indicator used. This might lead to wrong data in NaOH used and molarity. VI. Conclusion and Recommendations Citric acid in fruit juices is minimal in amount. The two fruit juice samples almost have the same amount of citric acid. Maybe because these are sold commercially, there were various tests conducted to ensure the proper and normal amount of citric acid in fruit juices. For the improvement of the experiment, it is recommended to use lighter colors of juices. Students should also try to use other indicators. VII. Sample Calculations 0.150g HKC8H4O4 x 1 mol HKC8H4O4 x 204.2 g M = 7.35 x 10-4 mol NaOH = 0.061 M 0.012 L M = 7.35 x 10-4 mol NaOH = 0.058 M 0.0126 L 0.06 M = n 0.003 L n = 1.8 x 10-4 mol NaOH 1.8 x 10-4 mol NaOH x 1 mol C6H8O7 = 6 x 10-5 mol C6H8O7 3 mol NaOH -5 M = 6 x 10 mol C6H8O7 = 0.01 M 0.005 L 0.01 M = n 0.350 L 1 mol NaOH 1mol HKC8H4O4 = 7.35 x 10-4 mol NaOH

n = 3.5 x 10-3 mol x 0.06 M =

192.124g = 0.67g 1 mol C6H8O7

n 0.0028 L n = 1.7 x 10-4 mol NaOH 1.7 x 10-4 mol NaOH x 1 mol C6H8O7 = 6 x 10-5 mol C6H8O7 3 mol NaOH M = 6 x 10-5 mol C6H8O7 = 0.01 M 0.005 L 0.01 M = n 0.250 L n = 2.5 x 10-3 mol x 192.124g = 0.48g 1 mol C6H8O7 VIII. References BRESCIA, ARENTS, MEISLICH, TURK. Fundamentals of Chemistry, Fourth Edition, Academic Press PATER, E., MOFFETT, T. SUNY Plattsburgh 2007. Determination of the Citric Acid Concentration in Fruit Juice CITRIC ACID MSDS http://www.coastalscents.com/cfwebstore/index.cfm?fuseaction =feature.display&feature_id=217 CITRIC ACID. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid