Lab #11

Titration of Vinegar
Yiorgio & Adam
Purpose: to find the concentration of acetic acid in vinegar
Method: 5g of solid NaOH was measured out. Water was added to the NaOH in a beaker and
then stirred until dissolved. Water from the beaker was added to 250mL volumetric flask.
Additional water was added so that the volumetric flask reached full capacity of 250mL, and
then was shaken so concentration was even. NaOH solution was added into burette (meniscus
reached zero). 10mL of vinegar and 1 drop of Phenolphthalein was added into an Erlenmeyer
flask using a pipette. Vinegar was carefully titrated, with a goal of a pale pink coloured solution.
Erlenmeyer flask was rinsed. Titration was repeated until 3 similar values were obtained (within
a difference of 1mL).





Observations:
Volume start (mL) Volume end (mL) Volume added (mL)
0 17.5 17.5
17.5 34.7 17.2
2.0 19.1 17.1

Calculations:
1. Average Volume of NaOH = (17.5 + 17.2 + 17.2)/3 = 17.3mL

2. Balance equation:
3. A)

B)

C)

4. Bottle says 5% acetic acid, density = 1.05g/mL
A)

B)


5. %error = (experimental theoretical)/theoretical



6. Sources of error:
When filling burette with NaOH, we did not get the meniscus to zero exactly. Instead the
meniscus was over 0. This may have been because of our angle of perspective.
A second source of error may have been when filling the pipette with vinegar. Meniscus
might not have reached 0. It would end up being too low which would have also been due
to the angle of perspective.