Feb26,2015

AcidBaseLab
DeterminationofCaCo3inToothpaste
ParichamonA.,PaparwarinS.,NontaphanT.,RutchanonA.114

Introduction:
Acidandbasecanbefoundinmostoftimeinourlifes.Accordingto
whatwehavelearnedinclass,allliquidsareconsistofeitheracidic,basicor
neutraltraits.ScientistsusesomethingcalledpHscaletomeasurehowacidic
orbasictheliquidis.DuckstersreportedthatpHscaleconsistedofnumbers
from0to14.Iftheliquidisinrangeofnumberfrom0to7,thenitwillbe
classifyasanacidicsubstancewith0beingthestrongest.Intheotherhand,
iftheliquidisinrangeofnumberfrom8to14,thenitwillclassifyasbasic
with14beingthestrongest.Itoftensaidthat,ifaliquidhasapHof7,wecan
defineitasneutralorsubstancecanbebothacidorbase.ForexampleJim
Clark(2002)agreethat,water(H
O)canbebothacidorbase,dependonhow
2
weuseit.
Calciumcarbonate(CaCo
)ischemicalcompoundformedbycarbon,
3
oxygen,andcalcium.Itisawhitesolid,isnontoxicandodourless.Wecan
foundincommoninrocks,eggshells,snails,etc.

CaCO
reactswithstrongacids,releasingcarbondioxideandwater:
3
CaCO

3(s)+2HCl(aq)CaCl2(aq)+CO

2(g)+H

2O(l)

Purpose:
TodetermineCaCo
intoothpaste.
3

Hypothesis:
Byaddinglargeamountofacidtoreactwithtoothpastecompletely.Wewould
beabletomeasurethequatityofCaCo
byaddingstrongbasetotheleftover
3
acid.Thecolorofthesubstancewillchangeintopinkwhileweaddmore
NaOH(strongbase)intothetoothpastesolution.


Materials:
125mLErlenmeyerFlasks(ConicalFlask)[x3]
spatula
standwithdoubleburetholder
stirbar
pHmeter
graduatedcylinder

Methods:
1. Put125mLErlenmeyeronscalezeroscale
2. Weightoutabout0.50g.oftoothpaste,usingspatula,directlyinto
125mLErlenmeyerflask.Recordvalueweighted.
3. Usinga10mLgraduatedcylinder,add10mLofdistilledwatertothe
toothpaste.
4. Usinga10.0mLvolumetricpipette,pipetteexactly10.0mLof0.10M
HClintotoothpaste/watersolution.
5. Addastirbar,heatandstirfor5minutesonhotplateandremovefrom
heatandletcooltothetouch.
6. Addafewdropsofphenolphthaleinindicator.
7. Startaddingyourtitrant(0.10MNaOHinburet)slowlyandcheckthepH
afterevery1mLoftitrantadded.RecordboththevolumeandpH.
Whensolutionstartstoturnpinkbutreturntotransparent,clearafter
swirling,addslower(dropwiseperhaps)
8. Afterendpointhasbennreached,recordthefinalpHandfinalvolume.
9. Continueaddingtitrant,anadditional4mLoftitrant.Againcheckingthe
pHafterevery1mLhasbeenadded.RecordthepHandvolumeeach
time.
10. Repeatexperiment2moretimes.Thiswillgiveatotalof3separate
titrations.
11. Disposeofyourwasteinlargebeakerprovided,donotdisposeof
downthedrain.LeaveleftoverNaOHsolutioninburetafteruse.

Results:

Sample1

Sample2

Weighttoothpaste(g)

0.53

0.61

InitialVol.(mL)

5.55

9.13

12.75

InitialpH

1.91

2.09

2.21

FinalVol.(mL)

9.13

8.62

16.46

FinalpH

8.93

8.62

8.61

TotalVol.(mL)

3.58

3.62

3.71

Vol.HClreactedwith
toothhpaste(mL)

6.42

6.38

6.29

MolesHClreacted

0.000642

0.000638

0.000629

MolesCaCO
3

0.000321

0.000319

0.0003145

32.1278949

31.9277211

31.4773301

60.62

52.33

68.43

AmountCaCO
(mg)
3
AmountCaCO
(mg/g)
3
AverageCaCO
(mg/g)
3

60.46

Totalnumbers:

Meanvalue:

6.04333333333e05

Samplestandarddeviation:

8.05129389187e06

Relativestandarddeviation:

13.32%

Sample3
0.46

Sample3
pH#1

2.58

pH#2

2.63

pH#3

4.11

pH#4

8.61

pH#5

10.76

pH#6

11.19

pH#7

11.36

pH#8

11.81

Chemicalreaction:

2HCl + CaCO3 CaCl2 + H 20 + CO2


LinegraphrepresentspHmeasurementoftoothpastesolutionaddedby
NaOHeachtime.(Sample3)

Discussion:

Duringtheexperiment,weheatedthesolution(water+toothpaste)in
ordertoexcludedtheremainingcarbondioxideoutofthetoothpaste.Later
weaddedalotofacidinordertohastenthereactionbetweenCaCO
and
3
HCl.OnceallCaCO
havebeenremove,wewouldbeabletomeasurethe
3
leftoveracidthatexceedtheamountofCaCO
withstrongbaseintitration
3
process.TheendpointreferstothepHvaluewhenthesolutionchangesits
colorintitration,measuredbypHmeter.Equivalencepointis2solutions
thatweremixedtogetherinthesameamongofproportions.According
chemiguide.co.uk,weakacidiscolorlessanditsionisbrightpink.Adding
extrahydroxide,ionremovesthehydrogenionsfromtheequilibrium,turning
theindicatorpink.IntheexperimentHClisaweakacidandNaOHisastrong

base,whentheyreactpinkisshown.Theboundaryofcolorshiftingtake
placewhenpHvalueisaround9whenstrongbasetakeoverweakacid.In
theend,theexperimentwasperformed3timestomakesurethattheresult
wasaccuratebyfindingtheaverageoftheresultandsaveanextrasamplein
caseoffailureanderrors.

Conclusion:
Accordingtotheexperiment,wecanconcludethatinColgate
toothpasteweuseineverydayisacid.Approximatly0.53gramsofthis
toothpasteconsistsof60.46mg/gofCalciumcarbonate.
BenjaminQuek
(2013)mentionedthat
CaCO
isusedasanabrasiveintoothpaste.
3
Thougthwehaveendedtheexperimentsuccessfully,thereweresome
errorsduringtheexperiment.Inprocedure7,wedidnotaddenoughNaOH
intosample1and2.Theyturnedintopinkasexpected,butlaterturnedback
tocloudyafterwewereatsample3withoutanyonenoticingandcausedusto
enterfalseinformation.Asaresultwehadtogobacktotitrationprocessand
addedmoreNaOHinbothsample.

Anothererrorwefacedwasthe
inconsistantofthepHmeterusedduringtheexperiment.ThepHvalueofthe
pHmeterwasnotstable,causingustodelaytheexperimentsincewehadto
waiteachtimepHvaluewastested.

Aftertheexperiment,wehavelearnedtheprocessofhowtobriefly
measuresthequatityofaspecificcompoundinoureverydaylifeitem.With
minoradjustmenttotheexperiment,wecanuseproductwithsimilar
characteristicastoothpastetoexploreindeepercontextsofchemistry.Inthe
nextexperiment,wewouldhavetobemorepatientabouttheresultofeach
sampleinordertoavoiderrorswhichwouldresultinredoingtheexperiment.
Theequipmentusedinthelabshouldbecheckedforitsconsistencybefore
operatingintheactualexperimenttoavoidlosingunnessecarytime.

Reference:
ColgateTotalProandHealth.ColgatePalmolive(Thailand)Ltd.,
700/362bangnaTrad,km57,AmphurMuang,Chonburi20000
Ducksters.Kidsscience:AcidsandBases[online].Available:
http://www.ducksters.com/science/acids_and_bases.php
JimClark(2002).pHcurves(titrationcurves)[online].Available:
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/acidbaseeqia/phcurves.html
Calciumcarbonate.(n.d.).RetrievedMarch8,2015from
http://calciumcarbonate.org.uk/calciumcarbonate.asp
BenjaminQuek(2013).DeterminationofCaCO3in
toothpaste[online].Available:
https://prezi.com/z_i3hla00s6b/determinationof-caco3-in-toothpaste/