Title: Determination of acetic acid of vinegar.

Aim: To determine the acetic acid concentration of two brands of vinegar by titration.
Apparatus: 250ml volumetric flask, 25 ml pipette, burette, three conical flasks, retort stand,
three beakers and one filter funnel Reagents: 0.1M Sodium hydroxide (100ml),
phenolphthalein (three drops per conical flask), water (300ml) and the supplied vinegar
(100ml)
Procedure:
1. 25ml of the vinegar was pipetted into a 250ml volumetric flask.
2. Water was then added to the volumetric flask until the bottom of the meniscus rests on
top of the graduated mark. The stopper was placed on the flask and three inversions
were performed to ensure proper mixing of the solution.
3. A conditioned burette was filled to the zero mark with 0.1M sodium hydroxide.
4. 25ml of the diluted vinegar solution was pipetted and the solution was placed in a
conical flask.
5. Three drops of phenolphthalein were added to the flask.
6. 0.1M sodium hydroxide was titrated into the flask until the endpoint was achieved.
7. Steps 4 – 6 was repeated until three concordant values were obtained.
Results:
Rough Flask 1 Flask 2
Initial burette reading/cm3 0.0 21.0 0
Final burette reading/cm3 21.0 42.2 21.1
Volume of NaOH added/cm3 21.0 21.2 21.1

Calculations:
a) Calculate the average volume of sodium hydroxide used in the titration using the two
closest values.
21.0+21.1 42.1
Average volume of NaOH =
2
= 2 = 21.05

b) Determine the number of moles of sodium hydroxide used.

Number of moles = Volume of NaOH × Conc. Of NaOH
21.05
= ( 1000 ) × 0.1

= 0.02105 × 01
= 0.002105 mol
c) Using your answer to (b) above and a suitable equation, determine the moles of
ethanoic acid in the volume of diluted vinegar you pipetted.
Balanced equation: NaOH + CH3COOH → CH3COONA + H2O
Mole ratio of NaOH: CH3COOH = 1 : 1 
Therefore, moles of ethanoic acid in the volume of diluted vinegar pipetted is:
= 1 × # of mole of NaOH
= 1 × 0.002105 mol of CH3COOH 
= 0.002105 mol of CH3COOH

d) Determine the molar concentration of the diluted vinegar.

¿ of moles of CH 3 COOH 0.002105
CH3COOH = =  
Volume of CH 3 COOH (25 ÷ 1000)
0.002105
=
0.025
= 0.0842 M
e) Giving consideration to how the diluted vinegar was prepared, determine the molar
concentration of the original sample of vinegar.
¿ of moles of CH 3 COOH
M of original sample of vinegar =
Volume of CH 3 COOH
0.002105
=
( 100÷ 1000 )
0.002105
=
0.1
= 0.02105M

f) Using the value calculated for (e) above, determine the mass of acetic acid in 100cm3
of vinegar solution.
0.02105 moldm−3
Mass of Acetic Acid = (12+1+1+1+12+16+16+1)
0.02105
= 60
= 0.004 gmol-1

g) Assuming that the density of vinegar is 1gcm-3 , the mass of acetic acid in 100g of
vinegar solution would be ___________________________
mass
Moles =
molar mass
100
= −1
60 gmo l
= 1.667 mol
mass
Volume =
density
 100 g
= −3
1gm
= 100ml
Mass = density × volume
= 1gcm-3 x 100ml
= 100g
Discussion:
A titration is a technique that uses a known solution (the titrant) to determine the
concentration of an unknown solution (the analyte) until the endpoint is reached. The
endpoint is the point during a titration when an indicator shows that the amount of reactant
necessary for a complete reaction has been added to a solution. Additionally, it is determined
by the equivalence point, which is the point at which the total amount of reactants in the
titration is stoichiometrically equivalent.
The acetic acid content in the brands of vinegar can be determined by acid-base
titration which is a neutralization reaction. Phenolphthalein is colourless in acid and pink in
alkali hence the endpoint of the titration is indicated by a faint permanent pink colour in the
solution. A standard solution is a solution of accurately known concentration prepared from a
primary standard that is weighed accurately and made up to a fixed volume. In the
experiment, the standard solution was 1moldm 3 of sodium hydroxide solution.
Initially a rough titration was carried out to get a rough idea of the approximate
volume that is needed to reach the end point. This was then followed by two other
accurate titrations. Though the titration was a success, there were a few limitations, some
of which included: the burette being able to only deliver a drop of the sodium hydroxide
nearest to the 0.05cm3 and also that the sodium hydroxide is not a good primary standard
as it is hygroscopic and deliquescent.

Conclusion:
The acetic acid concentration of two brands of vinegar by titration were determined to be
0.0842 M and 0.02105M.