Acid - Base Chemistry and the Effect of a Buffer

Christelle Bangsi
The Acidity of Soda: An Investigation into Acids and Bases found on the Moodle site for the
winter 2014 Chemistry 230L Course.
This lab involved working with acids, bases and buffers. Its analysis also involved being
able to understand and apply knowledge of equivalence points, and how they relate to the
number of H
+
ions a compound or solution has. Find below, the resulting curves of all the data
collected for the different components of the lab, and later, the analysis of what it all means.
Results:


0
2
4
6
8
10
0 5 10 15 20 25
pH
Volume (mL)
The Titration Curve of Acetic Acid
Series1





0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
0 10 20 30 40 50
pH
Volume (mL)
Titration of Phosphoric Acid
Series1
4.46
4.48
4.5
4.52
4.54
4.56
4.58
4.6
0 1 2 3
pH
Volume (mL)
The HCl Titration of A- = [HA]
Series1



4.55
4.6
4.65
4.7
4.75
4.8
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
pH
Volume (mL)
The NaOH Titration of A- = [HA]
Series1
4.76
4.78
4.8
4.82
4.84
4.86
4.88
4.9
4.92
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
pH
Volume (mL)
The HCl Titration of A- = 2[HA]
Series1
4.85
4.9
4.95
5
5.05
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
pH
Volume (mL)
The NaOH Titration of A- = 2[HA]
Series1




0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
pH
Volume (mL)
The HCl Titration of DI Water
Series1
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
pH
Volume (mL)
The NaOH Titration of DI Water
Series1


% error = ([experimental actual] actual) 100
Ka = 10^
-pKa

Acid name
and K
eq

pK
a
Ka:
experimental
Ka: actual % error
Acetic acid 7.79 1.62 x 10-
8
1.8 x 10
-5
-1.0 x 10
-9

Phosphoric
acid, Keq
1

5.62 2.40 x 10
-6
7.2 x 10
-3
-100
Phosphoric
acid, Keq
2

10.47 3.39 x 10
-11
6.3 x 10
-8
-99 x 10
-15


0
1
2
3
4
0 1 2 3
pH
Volume (mL)
The HCl Titration of Soda
Series1
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0 1 2 3
pH
Volume (mL)
The NaOH Titration of Soda
Series1
Discussion:
In both titration curves, there ultimately was an increase in pH, and both curves do have
buffer regions. For acetic acid, the start of the graph shows a consistently slow rise in pH. At the
equivalence point (when the sodium hydroxide is in excess) and beyond that point, the curve
shows that the pH rose a little bit more. For phosphoric acid, the graph is clearly broken in two
places, both of which correspond to the 2 equivalence points of that titration. At those buffer
regions, the pH rises sharply, and over a very small area. Acetic acid (CH
3
COOH) is a
monoprotic acid, which explains the single equivalence point, while phosphoric acid (H
3
PO4),
which has three H
+
ions, normally has three equivalence points.
The balanced equation for the reaction of HCl and a buffer is:
H
+
(aq)
+ Cl
-

(aq)
+ Na
+
(aq)

+ CH
3
COO
-
(aq)
CH3COOH
+
(aq)
+ Na
+
(aq)
+ Cl
-
(aq)


The balanced equation for the reaction of NaOH and a buffer is:
H
2
O
(l)
+ Na
+
(aq)

+ CH
3
COO
-
(aq)
CH
3
COOH
(aq)
+ Na
+
(aq)
+
OH
-
(aq)
The results for the buffer capacity for the [A-] = [HA] buffer did equal the capacity based
upon the titration curve. For both NaOH and HCl acid, after the addition of 2.5mL of base, the
buffer capacities varied only by 0.19 and 0.10 respectively compared to the titration curves.
There was a slight difference in values for both the predicted and measure values of pH
for both buffers. The predicted pH value for acetic acid was 4.76, and the measured value (for
HCl) was 4.58 for [A
-
] = [HA], and 4.91 for [A
-
] = 2[HA]. For NaOH, the measured value was
4.57 for [A
-
] = [HA], and 4.87 for [A
-
] = [HA].
By definition, a buffer is a solution that can be created from weak bases and their
conjugate acids, weak acids and their conjugate bases, but definitely not from strong acids and
strong bases. Sodium hydroxide is a strong base and hydrochloric acid is a strong acid. On the
other hand, acetic acid is a weak acid, and so it would create a buffer solution.
The Henderson-Hasselbach equation is an equation used for directly calculating the pH of
a buffer system: pH = pK
b
+ log ([base]/ [acid]).
pOH = 14 - 8.50=5.50
pK
b
= -log [K
b
] = 4.74
Given that pOH = pK
b
+ log ([base]/ [acid])
Log ([base]/ [acid]) = pOH - pK
b
= 5.50 - 4.74 =0.76
Hence 10^
0.76
= 5.75 This is the ratio of [NH
4
Cl]/ [NH3]
To make this buffer given a solution of 0.10 M NH
3
(aq) and a bottle of NH
4
Cl
(s)
, first
make 1L of NH
4
Cl
(s)
and then find the number of moles of NH
4
Cl
(s)
, and assuming its molarity is
also 0.10M, find the number of moles by multiplying molarity and volume, which in this case
will equal 0.10 moles. # of moles = mass/molar mass, so to get the mass of NH
4
Cl
(s)
needed,
multiply # of moles by molar mass (53.5g) which equals 5.53g , then you multiply that by the
ratio of [NH
4
Cl]/ [NH3], which equals 30.76g. This is the mass of NH
4
Cl
(s)
needed to add to 1L
of NH
3
(aq) to create the buffer solution.
Lastly, the list of ingredients in a can of Mountain Dew does show its acidity, as it
contains citric acid, and the presence of sodium citrate (which is a weak acid) can help balance
the buffer system. Based on the above titration curves involving Mountain Dew and both HCl
and NaOH, it is fair to say that, yes, it can act as a buffer, because by the end of the 50 drops in
both graphs, the pH stopped increasing or decreasing significantly.