Paul Nguyen Titration Curves and pKa by Half Neutralization Introduction:

7 April 2012

The purpose of this lab is to determine the Ka of an acid. Pka is also needed to be determined by the equation of -log(Ka). To find that we use half-neutralization and titration with a strong acid. Procedure: Part 1- pKa of Acetic Acid by Half-Neutralization 1. Construct a pH color standard using pH standards and universal indicator 2. Place 1 drop of universal indicator in each of 10 wells in a microstrip 3. First microwell. Place 5ml of 0.15M acetic acid in a small clean Erlenmeyer. Place 2 drops of 0.15M of acetic acid in microwell #1. 4. 2nd well. Pipet .50ml of 0.2M NaOH in the Erlenmeyer. Stir well by drawing up the solution into a Pasteur pipet and then quickly emptying the pipet. Transfer 2 drops of the solution into the second well using the Pasteur pipet. 5. 3rd well. Again add 0.50ml of 0.2M NaOH to the Erlenmeyer; mix and transfer two drops of the solution to the 3rd well. 6. Subsequent wells. Continue this process of adding the base, mixing and sampling until a dark blue color is obtained. Record the volume of NaOH it took to neutralize all the acetic acid in the original sample. 7. Add 1 drop of water to each well with a pipet and stir by flushing the pipet in the well. Rinse out the ipet between wells. Locate the well where the acid was half-neutralized; record the color and compare with the color standards. Record pH. 8. Remake the solution at the halfway point according to the half-neutralization, and find the pH. Part 2- Titration Curve of Acetic Acid 1. Set up a buret with .2M NaOH. Record the exact conc. 2. In a 250ml flask place 20 ml of 0.15M acetic acid and 5 drops of phenolphthalein solution. Swirl the solution. 3. After addition of each 1ml of NaOH, bring the flask to a pH meter to measure the pH. Be sure to rinse off the electrode by immersing it in distilled water after removing and before replacing the cap of the electrode. 4. Record any color changes. Note the pH reading at those color changes. 5. Continue with the titration after the equivalence point, until the pH changes are within 0.2 pH units.

Analysis: Part 1: 4 mL of NaOH was added until the endpoint was reached. Endpoint color was blue. pH is 4.0 at equilibrium which makes pKa 4.0 as well. At half equilibrium 2.0 mL Part 2:
14 12 10 8 pH 6 4 2 0 0 5 10 mL 15 20

mL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

pH
3.16 3.54 3.77 3.97 4.09 4.27 4.4 4.55 4.67 4.87 5 5.25 5.67 11.07 11.65 11.82 11.93 12

Discussion/Conclusion: This table represents the microwells. The highlighted well represents Half-Neutralization. Red Red Red Red RedOran Orange Yellow Blue

Using this method the pKa for acetic acid was 4.0. Comparing this methods pka value with the titration value, the titration value we obtained was around the pH range of 8. So using the Henderson-Hasselbalch formula pH would equal pka. Making the pka value of the titration method around 8 as well. Comparing the pka value to the books pka value, Half-neutralization was the more accurate method. The difference between the equivalence point and endpoint of a reaction is that the eq point equals the molars of OH in acid while the endpoint is where the titration stops. So it is important to consider the pH range of an indicators color range is to determine where the endpoint and eq point is.