NAME: YAMBESA

SURNAME: MPHATHISWA

STUDENT NUMBER: 202250111

GROUP D1

EXPERIMENT 3
TITLE:

Titration of weak acid (acetic acid with a concentration of 0.1mol/litre) and a strong base
(potassium hydroxide with a concentration of 0.1mol/litre).

INTRODUCTION:

A titration is an experiment in which measured amounts of base are added to a measured amount
of acid It is also a procedure for carrying out a chemical reaction between two
solutions by a controlled addition from a burette of one solution into the other .
(David,2004).

With the use of a pH meter u can monitor the change from acidity to alkalinity of the
solution until the equivalence point is reached. One equivalent of a base is the quantity
needed for a full reaction to occur with an existing acid. When titrating, acid can either be
added to base or base can be added to acid, both will result in an equivalence point, which is
the condition in which the reactants are in stoichiometric proportions. They consume each
other, and neither reactant is in excess (Kotz, et al, 2009).

The equivalence point is the part of the titration when enough base has been added to the
acid (or acid added to the base) that the concentration of [H+] in the solution equals the
concentration of [OH-]. Since [H+] = [OH-] at the equivalence point, they will combine to
form the following equation: H+(aq) +OH−(aq) →H2O, (l). The half equivalence point
represents the point at which exactly half of the acid in the buffer solution has reacted with
the titrant. The half equivalence point is relatively easy to determine because at the half
equivalence point, the pKa of the acid is equal to the pH of the solution . At this point the
number of moles of acid solution equal to the number of moles of a base solution, therefore
the volume is equal and the PH of titration of weak acid and a strong base is greater than 7
at equivalence point. (Petrucci, et al, 2007).

Normally an acid is any substance that in water solution tastes sour and a base taste bitter, an
acid can change a color of a certain indicator. According to Bronsted Lowry theory (1923), base
is any species that can accept a proton and an acid loses a proton. A strong base is a base that
completely dissociates in an aqueous solution and a weak acid is an acid that don’t completely

dissociates in solution in other words weak acid is not a strong acid. Acetic acid, CH3COOH, is
a weak acid, meaning that it partially ionizes in aqueous solution to form hydronium
cations, H3O+, and acetate anions, CH3COO−.The strength of a weak acid depends on how
much it dissociates, the more it dissociates the stronger the acid ,and the general equation of the
dissociation of a strong base is: XOH (aq)→X+(aq)+OH−(aq),(levie ,2009).

A solution of known concentration and volume is prepared, and it is called a titrant, this solution
reacts with a solution that is yet to be analyzed which is called the analyte during titration, the
titrant reacts with the analyte to determine the analyte’s concentration. (Reger .et al ,2009).
titration can be detected by some physical changes, change in color is an indication of the end
point or the equivalence point.

An Indicator is a compound that changes color according to the pH of a substance or changes

color when a solution has a specific pH, during a titration of a weak acid with a strong base the
indicator used is called Phenolphthalein which has a pH range (8,3 – 10) ,this indicator becomes
colorless when the solution is acid and it turns pink when the solution is basic , (Arthur 1994)

AIM:

The aim of the experiment was to titrate a weak acid (acetic acid) with a strong base (KOH),

It was also to determine the concentration of the acidic solution by titrating it with a basic
solution of known concentration, or vice-versa, until neutralization, and to determine the pH
curve for the titration of a weak acid and strong base.

MATERIALS AND METHOD:

Before the experiment was setup, the probe was rinsed with distilled water, then it was dipped
into a green buffer solution with a pH of 7,00. Distilled water was used to rinse the probe again
then it was dipped into a different buffer, pink buffer with a pH of 4,00.The experiment was set
up with a stand holding a 50 ml burette which was filled with potassium hydroxide with
concentration of 0.1mol/litre up to the zero mark. Twenty millilitres of acetic acid solution with
concentration 0.1mol/litre was pipetted into a 100ml beaker, and the pH was measured. The
100ml beaker was placed on a magnetic stirrer and add a stirring bar was added. The acetic
solution was titrated using potassium hydroxide, after the addition of 1 ml aliquots of potassium
hydroxide the pH was measured using a probe and pH meter. The amount of potassium
hydroxide was reduced when nearing the end point in order to give a reasonable change in pH.
The pH was determined at the equivalence point and the titration curve was plotted.
RESULTS

Titration curve of a weak acid(acetic acid) and a strong base(KOH)

14

12

10

8
pH

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

volume of KOH(ml)

Series2 Series4
DISCUSSION

The experiment was conducted in order determine the amount of the potassium hydroxide
solution needed to neutralize 20 ml of acetic acid solution, until the equivalence point is
reached, the experiment was also conducted to determine the pH curve ,the half-equivalence
point, the equivalence point for the titration of a weak acid and strong base.

The probe was rinsed with distilled water in order to avoid contamination issues. The pH meter
was calibrated with two different buffer an acidic buffer with a pH of 4 and a basic buffer with a
pH of 7 ,it was calibrated in order to obtain accurate results. During the calibration of the pH
meter, the different buffer solutions were used in order to display the correct pH values. Accurate
pH measurements cannot be accomplished with a pH meter unless the pH meter has been
calibrated against standardized buffer. Without a proper calibration the pH meter has no way to
determine the pH value of the solution you are testing.

Theoretically the pH of a weak acid should be less than 7 and its usually ranges from 4 to 6
because weak acids are not capable of dissociating or ionizing completely in an aqueous
solution, After calibration, the measured experimental pH of acetic acid before the addition of
KOH was 3.03, the difference in these two pH of acetic acid , they are different because there
were uncontrolled conditions during the experiment or experimental errors such as mis recording
the pH reading , or the equipment may have been used incorrectly, or there maybe excess
addition of the base.

The acetic acid was titrated using 1 ml aliquots of KOH, and the pH of the solution was
measured, 1 ml aliquot of KOH was added using 50 ml burette which contained acetic acid, the
pH was measured in order to observe the change in the pH of the solution. The magnetic stirrer
and stirrer bar were used to mix the solution after every addition of KOH in the 100 ml beaker
containing 20 ml of acetic acid, the pH meter was used to measure the PH of the solution. As the
KOH solution was added to HCL solution the pH increases slowly due to the logarithmic nature
of the pH scale, which means that a pH of 1 will have 10 times the concentration of hydronium
ions as a pH of 2, the pH rises gradually at initially.
The initial pH (before the addition of any strong base) was higher or less acidic than the titration
of a strong acid, this showed that acetic acid is a weak acid , there is a sharp increase in pH at the
beginning of the titration, this was because the anion of the weak acid became a common ion that
reduced the ionization of the acid. After the sharp increase at the beginning of the titration the
curve only changes gradually, this was because the solution is acting as a buffer.This will
continue until the base overcomes the buffers capacity. In the middle of this gradually curve the
half-neutralization occurs. At this point the concentration of weak acid is equal to the
concentration of its conjugate base. Therefore, the pH= pKa. This point is called the half-
neutralization because half of the acid has been neutralized. At the equivalence point the pH is
greater then 7 because all of the acid (HA) has been converted to its conjugate base (A-) by the
addition of KOH and now the equilibrium moves backwards towards HA and produces
hydroxide, that is:
A−+H2O⇌AH+OH−.
During the experiment the equivalence point was reached at 20ml of potassium hydroxide and
the pH was found to be 11,40. At equivalence point the number of moles of an acid equal to the
number of moles of a base (Kirschner, 2010). The concentration of acetic acid was equal to the
concentration of its conjugate base at the half neutralization point since half of an acid was
neutralized as stated before. Even though this was the case, the pH at the equivalence point was
not equal to 7 due to the production of the conjugate base during the titration. The pH at
equivalence point was found to be 11,40 the PH was greater than 7 because the conjugate base of
a weak acid is weakly basic (kopkar,2007). After the equivalence point the acetic acid was
completely neutralized and the PH was becoming more greater
REFERENCES:
1.David, L. 2004. Encylopedia of analytical science. Journal of polymer science,8(2), pp.223-
234.
2.Kotz, et al, Chemistry and Chemical reactivity, 7 th edition, Belmont, California: Thomson
Brooks / Cole, 2009
3.Levie, S, 2009 method of colloid titration (A new titration between polymer ions), journal of
polymer science ,8(2),pp.242-253
4.Petrucci, et al General chemistry: principles and Modern Applications, 9th edition, upper
saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson (prentice Hall, 2007).

5. Vogel, Arthur T (1994), Vogel’s Textbook of Quantitative chemical Analysis conman.

An analyte
solution is usually in the beaker
or conical flask in the case of
this practical the analyte was
acetic acid.
An analyte
solution is usually in the beaker
or conical flask in the case of
this practical the analyte was