EXPERIMENT 1

Basic Laboratory Technique (Calibrating a Pipette)

Instruction

Watch the video uploaded, write a report (refer to the guidelines in the Chemistry Practical
Report Format) and submit the lab report to the respective instructor within a week.

Objective

1) To expose student to the factors that affect the accuracy of an experiment.

2) To calibrate a pipette.

Apparatus & Chemicals

Clearly state all apparatus & chemicals used to conduct the experiment.

Introduction

Experiments in the chemistry laboratory involve quantitative analytical procedure. Some of the
common laboratory apparatus include the burette, pipette and volumetric flask. These
glasswares are used to measure the volume of solutions at certain temperatures. Since the
volume of a liquid changes with temperature, to get the accuracy, the apparatus involved in
the experiment have to be calibrated before use. In this experiment we will only focus on the
calibration of pipette.

Pipettes are glass vessels that are constructed and calibrated so as to deliver a precisely
known volume of liquid at a given temperature. Transfer and Mohr pipette are two types of
common pipette usually found in the laboratory. A transfer pipette is calibrated to deliver only
one volume, whereas a Mohr pipette is graduated so that it can deliver any volume (usually to
nearest tenth of a milliliter) up to maximum volume. Transfer pipettes come in many size, but
5 mL, 10 mL, 20 mL, 25 mL pipette are usually found in general chemistry laboratories.
Common volume of Mohr pipette are 1 mL, 5 mL, 10 mL volume. The correct use of a pipette
requires considerable manipulatory skill.

No physical quantity can be measured with perfect certainty, there are always experimental
errors in any measurement. Errors account for the range of values obtained from successive
measurements of the same quantity, even though there was no mistake in any of the
measurement. Errors may be either systematic or random. A systematic error can happen
when an apparatus which is not calibrated is used. The measurement will always be too large
or, alternatively, too small. A systematic error will influence the accuracy of a measurement,
that is, the agreement between a measured value of a quantity and its true value. A random
error is evident when a measuring device, even a very accurate one, is used a number of
times to make the same measurement. Both errors can be reduced by using calibrated
apparatus and carefully doing the experiment.
 Table 1: Density (g/mL) of Water at Various Temperatures (°C)

Temperature (°C) Density 1 g water (1 mL)

22 1.0032
23 1.0034
24 1.0037
25 1.0039
26 1.0042
27 1.0045
28 1.0047
29 1.0050
30 1.0053
35 1.0059

Results

Data table:

(i) (ii)

Mass of flask,g

Mass of flask + water,g

Mass of water,g

Water temperature, °C

Actual water volume, mL

Average water volume, mL

Calculations

1. Show the steps involved in calculating the actual water volume.

2. Show the steps involved in calculating the mean true volume delivered by the pipette.

Discussion

Discuss the experimental results (refer to the guidelines in the Chemistry Practical Report

Format).
Questions

1. When using aqueous solutions, do we read at the bottom or top of the meniscus?
2. Which is more precise: a 50 mL volumetric flask or 50 mL Erlenmeyer flask?
3. Would you use a 5 mL volumetric pipette or a 5 mL graduated cylinder if you wish to
measure exactly 5.00 mL of water?
4. How many decimal places should be used to record the volume of a 10 mL volumetric
flask?
5. Why should a pipette always be rinsed first with the liquid to be used?
6. After the liquid is drained from the pipette, a small amount remains inside the tip.
Should it be added to the volume drained from the pipette?

Conclusion

What did you learn from this experiment? (refer to the guidelines in the Chemistry Practical
Report Format)

Updated: ODL UiTMCPP OCT 2020