Hydrolysis of

Salts
and the Action of
a Buffer Solution

Student’s name;:
ID no. :
Course : chemy 102 – sec 02
Experiment no. 4
Aim:-
To learn about the concept of hydrolysis and to gain
familiarity with the behavior of buffer solutions

Introduction:-
We expect solutions of substances such as HCl and HNO2 to be
acidic and solutions of NaOH and NH3 to be basic. However, we
may be somewhat surprised at first to discover that aqueous
solutions of some salts such as NaNO2 and KC2H3O2 are basic,
whereas others such as NH4Cl and FeCl3 are acidic. Recall that
salts are the products formed in neutralization reactions of acids
and bases.

Nearly all salts are strong electrolytes and exist as ions in

aqueous solutions. Many ions react with water to produce acidic or
basic solutions. The reactions of ions with water are frequently
called hydrolysis reactions.

Hydrolysis Behavior of Salts:

Whether a solution of a salt will be acidic, neutral or basic can be
predicted on the basis of the strengths of the acid and base from
which the salts was formed.

1. Salt of a strong acid and a strong base: Examples: NaCl,

KBr, and Ba(NO3)2. Neither the cation nor anion hydrolyzes,
and the solution has a pH of 7.
2. Salt of a strong acid and a weak base: Examples: NH4Br,
ZnCl2, and Al(NO3)3. The cation hydrolyzes, forming H+
ions, and the solution has a pH less than 7.
3. Salt of a weak acid and a strong base: Examples: NaNO2,
KC2H3O2, and Ca(OCl)2. The anion hydrolyzes, forming
OH‾ ions, and the solution has a pH greater than 7.
4. Salt of a weak acid and a weak base: Examples: NH4F,
NH4C2H3O2, and Zn(NO2)2. Both ions hydrolyze. The pH of
solution is determined by the relative extent to which each
ion hydrolyzes.
 Effect of buffer solution:
A buffer solution has the important property of resisting large
changes in pH upon the addition of small amounts of strong acids
or bases. A buffer solution must have two components– one that
will react with H+, and the other that will react with OH‾. The two
components of a buffer solution are usually a weak acid and its
conjugate base. Thus buffers are often prepared by mixing a week
acid or a week base with a salt of that acid or base. By appropriate
choice of components and their concentrations, buffer solutions of
virtually any pH can be made.
To examine how a buffer works, consider, for example, the
HC2H3O2–C2H3O2‾ buffer. If OH‾ ions are added, they react with
the acid component of the buffer:

OH‾ (aq) + HC2H3O2 (aq) → C2H3O2‾ (aq) + H2O (l)

If H+ are added, they react with the base component of the buffer:

H+ (aq) + C2H3O2‾ (aq) → HC2H3O2 (aq)

Discussion:-
In first part of experiment, ions expected to hydrolyze in
many solutions were determined as will as spectator ions.
Then the PH of every solution was measured using PH meter
with adding some several indicators and observing the
change in color. Also the concentrations of H+ and OH- ions
were calculated and used to find the value of equilibrium
constant.
The second part was concerned with the action of buffer
in maintaining the PH value stable throughout the procedure
of titrating it against strong acids and strong bases. And to
clarify the impact of the buffer the same titrations were made
against pure water and by comparing the results a the impact
of buffer was noticed.
Some errors has occurred during the experiment.They
could be caused by personal error such as wrong reading of
measurements , or it could be a systematic error such as
having inaccurate PH meter. Also it could be a random error
like reacting the solutions with the surrounding which leads to
having a slight change in the PH values.

Conclusion:-
Salt hydrolysis has been studied and hydrolyzed ions in
some solutions were determined, as well as the PH values,
H+ & OH- concentrations, expression for equilibrium
constant and its value for these solutions. The effect of
buffer was also studied and noticed as it maintain the same
PH values when titrating it against bases and acids.

Reference : the lab manual.