CALABANO, Mark Jasper C.

I- BS Medical Technology

NEUTRALIZATION TITRATIONS

Direction: Site your observations on the progress of titrating strong acid with strong base, strong
acid with weak base, weak acid with strong base and weak acid with weak base.

1. Titration of strong acid and strong base

In titration of strong acid and strong base, we will have hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) as a typical strong acid and a strong base. The hydrochloric acid is the analyte and
sodium hydroxide is the titrant. As shown in the titration curve, at point one, the pH of the analyte is low
because there is no sodium hydroxide (NaOH) added yet. But as NaOH is being added drop by drop, the
hydronium ions produced by the dissociation of hydrochloric acid is being dissipated by the hydroxide
ions produced by the dissociation of the titrant, NaOH. The analyte here is still acidic because there are
still more presence of hydronium ions than hydroxide ions. Point two shows the pH prior to the taking
place of complete neutralization. The point three in the curve shows the equivalence point wherein the
enough titrant has been added to react with all of the substance being titrated with no titrant left over.
At this point, hydronium ions is completely neutralized by hydroxide ions. The pH at the equivalence
point is 7 meaning the solution is neutral. At point four, as the volume of the titrant increases, the pH of
the analyte also increases. The continuous addition of NaOH makes the pH more basic because HCl has
been completely neutralized and there is now more presence of hydroxide ions.

2. Titration of a weak acid with a strong base

In titration of a weak acid with a strong base, we will have acetic acid (CH 3COOH) as the weak
acid and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as the strong base. The acetic acid is the analyte and sodium
hydroxide is the titrant. As shown in the titration curve, at point one, the pH of the analyte is low
because there is no sodium hydroxide (NaOH) added yet. But as NaOH is being added drop by drop, the
hydronium ions is being dissipated by the hydroxide ions produced by the dissociation of the titrant,
NaOH. The analyte here is still acidic because there are still more presence of hydronium ions than
hydroxide ions. Point two shows the pH prior to the taking place of complete neutralization. The point
three in the curve shows the equivalence point wherein the enough titrant has been added to react with
all of the substance being titrated with no titrant left over. In here, the pH at the equivalence point is 9
meaning the solution is basic. At point four, which is beyond the equivalence point, shows that as the
volume of the titrant increases, the pH of the analyte also increases. The continuous addition of NaOH
makes the pH of the solution more basic.

To compare the starting pH of the titration of a strong acid and strong base and a weak acid and
a strong base, the starting pH of the acetic acid (weak acid) is higher than the starting pH of hydrochloric
acid (strong base). The weaker the acid, the higher the pH. The stronger the acid, the lower the pH.
3. Titration of a strong acid with a weak base

In titration of a strong acid with a weak base, we will have hydrochloric acid (HCl) as the strong
acid and ammonia (NH3) as the weak base. The hydrochloric acid is the analyte and ammonia is the
titrant. As shown in the titration curve, at point one, the pH of the analyte is low because there is no
ammonia (NH3) added yet. But as NH 3 is being added drop by drop, the hydronium ions is being
dissipated by ammonia. Analyte is still acidic due to dominance of hydronium ions. Point two shows the
pH prior to the taking place of complete neutralization. The point three in the curve shows the
equivalence point wherein the enough titrant has been added to react with all of the substance being
titrated with no titrant left over. At this point, hydronium ions is completely neutralized by ammonia.
The pH at the equivalence point is 5.5 meaning the solution is acidic. At the equivalence point, the
solution only has ammonium ions and chloride ions. At point four, after the equivalence point, the
continuous addition of NH3 makes the pH increase. NH 3 is a weak base so the pH is above 7, but is lower
than what we saw with a strong base NaOH.

4. Titration of a weak base with a weak acid

In titration of a weak base with a weak acid we will have ammonia (NH3) as the analyte and also
the weak base and acetic acid (CH3COOH) as the titrant and also the weak acid. As we can observed,
there isn't any steep bit on the graph. According to some resources, the lack of a steep bit means that it
is difficult to do a titration of a weak acid against a weak base. There is only what they call ' point of
inflexion’ at the equivalence point shown in the graph.