Chris Smith AP Chemistry Period 4-5a October, 2 2000

Mass Percent of Sodium Hypochlorite in Bleach

I. Purpose The purpose of this lab is to determine the mass percent of sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) in regular Clorox bleach. II. Data Part I: Titration of bleach with 0.10 M S2O3-2 Volume 0.10 M S2O3-2 used (mL) Volume bleach solution used (mL) Trial 1 19.7 2.00 Trial 2 20.3 2.00 Part II: Determination of Density of bleach solution Mass of bleach solution (g) Volume bleach solution (mL) Trial 1 2.0346 2.00 III. Calculations Reference values: Molarity of S2O3-2 solution used in titration: 0.10 M Molar mass of NaClO: 74.5 g/mole Balanced Equations:

ClO-1 + 2 I-1 + 2 H+ Cl-1 + I2 + H2O I2 + I-1 I3-1 I3-1 + 2 S2O3-2 3 I-1 + S4O6-2
Calculation Procedure: (Data from trial 1 shown below) 1) Calculate the moles of S2O3-2 used in titration: 0.0197 L x 0.10 M = 0.00197 moles S2O3-2 2) Calculate the number of moles of ClO-1 based upon the three balanced equations above: 0.00197 moles S2O3-2 x 1 mole I3-1 x 1 mole I2 x 2 moles S2O3-2 1 mole I3-1 1 mole ClO-1 = 9.85 x10-4 moles ClO-1 1 mole I2

3) The number of moles of ClO-1 is equal to the number of moles of NaClO Moles of NaClO = 9.85 x10-4 4) Calculate the mass of NaClO present by multiplying by the molar mass of NaClO 9.85 x10-4 moles NaClO x 74.5 g NaClO = 0.0734 grams NaClO

5) Calculate the density of the bleach solution by dividing the mass by the volume from part II in the data above 2.0346 g bleach solution / 2.00 mL = 1.02 g/mL 6) Using the density calculated in #5, calculate the total mass of the bleach solution: 1.02 g mL x 2.00 mL = 2.04 g bleach solution

7) Using the mass of NaClO from #4 and the total mass of the bleach solution from #6, calculate the mass % of the bleach: 0.0734 g NaClO / 2.04 g bleach solution x 100% = 3.60 % NaClO by mass

Using the same technique, the results from trial 1 and 2 are listed below: Mass % Trial 1 3.60 % Trial 2 3.71 % Average 3.66 % The label on the bottle stated that the mass % of the sodium hypochlorite in the bleach is 5.25%. Based upon our average of 3.66 % calculated above, this results in a 31.4 % error from stated to experimental. IV. Conclusion The purpose of this lab was to calculate the mass % of sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) in regular Clorox bleach. Our results indicate that the mass % is actually 3.66 % which is far from the 5.25 % value stated on the label. This is a 31.4 % error. Several reasons could account for the fact that the actual result is below the stated result. First, there is no indication about how old the solution of Clorox bleach actually was. If the solution is significantly old enough, the hypochlorite ion (which is very reactive) could have degraded into another material, most likely the Cl-1 ion (which is unreactive under these circumstances). If this is the case, the 3.66 % value found in this lab could be more accurate than the 31.4 % error stated. Second, small differences in seemingly insignificant materials may have caused some small error. This is an acid catalyzed reaction and approximately 2 mL of 3 M H2SO4 were used. In addition, approximately 2 grams of KI was used to ensure that the ClO-1 was not the limiting reagent. Differing amounts of either of these materials could have caused some small measure of error, especially if an unaccounted side reaction was taking place. However, the results found above are very close to one another so this is probably not a major source of error. Finally, only one trial was performed for the density calculation section. With more time, more investigation should be performed to verify that value.