Francesco Chiocchio 001386-051

Acids and bases can be defined in different ways, in the IB course we are given two different definitions, the Brnsted-Lowry definition, which states that an acid is a substance which donates a proton, or a hydrogen positive ion, while a base accepts its. However, another way to define them is using Lewis definition, which states that an acid is a substance which can accept a lone pair of electrons. There are two different types of acids and of bases: strong and weak. The difference between a strong and weak is not, as it is commonly thought, the amount of the corrosion the acid or base does. This is given by the concentration of the solution. The difference is given by the degree of separation, or decomposition of the substance into the ions. A strong acid or base will separate a lot, while a weaker one will dissociate less. When an acid and a base of the same concentration are titrated, it is common to create a graph of pH against volume added of the titrant. Depending on whether the acid or the base is strong or weak, the graph will have different characteristics:

The difference between the titration of different types of acids and bases, lies in the pH of the equivalence point, which is found at half of the vertical line, the point of inflexion. In the first graph, the equivalence point is at pH= to 7, in the second graph it is at a pH lower than 7, while in the third graph it is found to be higher than 7. In the fourth graph, the equivalence point is found at a pH of 7, but there will be a lower pH difference than the one found in the first graph. The reason for the changes of the pH at the equivalence points, is related to the amount of free hydrogen ions present in the solution. In the case of strong acid and base, there are none, while in strong acids weak base, there are a lot, so the pH is lower than 7. Aim: In this laboratory report, I will show how to find the pKa of a weak acid graphically, and after use the value I receive to see what weak acid I used. The pKa is the negative logarithm of the dissociation constant Ka. My partner and I will do a titration and will create a graph of the pH in respect to the volume of the basic solution added. We will measure the pH using a pH metre, but we will add to the solution an appropriate indicator too, for checking purposes. The titration will be between a weak acid and a strong base, where the base is being added. This causes the equivalence point to be higher than pH=7, it can be estimated that it will be somewhere around pH=8, as explained above. Thus an effective indicator for this case has to have a change

Francesco Chiocchio 001386-051

in colour around this value, we looked the indicator which had this requirement and found Phenolphthalein, which turns from colourless to pink in the range values of pH between 8, 2 to 10, 0. The hypothesis underneath this experiment is that the Ka can be found using the half of the volume needed to reach the equivalence point, after having found Ka, by using a data booklet; we can find the acid we titrated. To understand the principle more clearly we will explain it to you using some equations. When doing a titration, where the base is being added to the acid, at the equivalence point the concentration of the acid is 0, it all dissociated to hydrogen ions and the anion; if we take the half of the volume used to reach the equivalence point, the concentration of acid is equal to the concentration of the anion (in a 1 mole to 1 mole reaction), because of this we can simplify the equation for Ka: Ka=[H+]x =[H+]x1. In our data we dont have the concentration of hydrogen ions, but we have the pH which is equal to: -log ([H+]), therefore we can re-arrange our formula to have Ka in terms of pH: -log(Ka)=pH and we know that pKa=-log(Ka). To conclude, the explanation at half of the equivalence point in a titration is pKa=pH. Variables: In every experiment there are three types of variables: independent, dependent and controlled. The independent variable is the one that we are changing, in this case is the volume of titrant we are adding, this is done using a burette. The dependent variable is what we are measuring, in this case is the pH of the solution in the conical flask, this is measured using pH metres. The controlled variable are all the things that need to stay constant to give fair results. These are the room temperature, which has been kept constant by doing the experiment in a room with a constant temperature of 21 C, with no open windows or doors. Another constant variable is the pressure, which was 1110mmHg during the experiment. Materials used and errors: Two stands with clamps 0, 1 molar solution of a weak acid. This is an assumption, as the solution has been prepared by the teacher. 0, 1 molar solution of Sodium Hydroxide. Phenolphthalein. 2 glass burettes capacity: 50 ml; plastic valve; error: 0,05 ml. 1 pH meter error: 0,2 pH parts , produced by Hanna checkpoint. 1 glass conical flask, used as container, pH metre must reach the bottom when inserted. 2 plastic beakers, one used for waste products, second used for cleaning pH metre. 1 pipette capacity: 3ml , used to put drops of indicator. Procedure: The first step, as always, is to clean all material used. This was done using distilled water, to avoid any contamination of the apparatus which we used. After that we set the stands on table, we adjusted the clamps to hold the burette up high enough to make the conical flask fit underneath. We filled the burette up to precisely 50 ml, one with the weak acid solution, the second one the sodium hydroxide solution. We clearly labelled what each burette was filled with, this step is not essential, however, it reduces the risk of confusion and thus the risk for any mistakes to happen. 2

Francesco Chiocchio 001386-051

We fill an empty beaker with distilled water and inserted the pH metre in it. Starting experiment: We added to the cleaned and dried conical flask 20 ml of the unknown weak acid from the burette. After we added to the conical flask 7 drops of phenolphthalein using a new pipette and instered in the conical flask the pH metre measuring probe and made sure that it was submerged in the acid. We allocated the conical flask containing the pH metre and the acid solution underneath the tap of the burette which contained the sodium hydroxide, put the tap right next to the digital display of the pH metre, to make sure the base coming out the tab directly goes to the acid, without touching the walls of the flask or the measuring probe of the pH metre. Data collection: For the first trial of the experiment we added 1ml of the basic solution to the acidic solution and read the pH; we continued doing so till the change in pH was +0,1 and the colour of the solution had changed from colourless to pink, this meant that the pH was stabilizing and it was not useful to continue the experiment for our purpose of knowing the pKa. We wrote down the pH for each ml added on a table. For precision purposes, we did the experiment more times and after we took an average of the data extrapolated from the experiment. Every time the experiment is repeated, the burettes must be refilled to 50 ml or at emptied till the volume is an easy number to use(Ex 30 ml or 25 ml), this is done for facilitating reading of data; the beaker containing the water must be refilled with water for a better cleaning of the pH meter which is afterward inserted in the beaker, the conical flask must be cleaned and dried appropriately, and the experiment can be repeated (the procedure Starting experiment and Data collection are repeated). The volume of the weak acid put in the conical flask must always be 20 ml and the base must always be added to the acid not vice versa, if not the results for different trials would be completely different. For time issues the second and onwards data collection was done by adding 2 ml at the time rather than 1 ml and when the volume added is close to (approximately 5ml before) the volume added in the 1st experiment for the change in colour to take place, the adding must be changed from 2ml at the time to 1ml, giving more precise results. Data: Qualitative data: As we did the experiment, we could observe that the conical flask in which the titration was occurring, was heating up. The reason for this is because any titration is an exothermic reaction. I will discuss about this in the evaluation section. Quantitative results: This is the data we received from our experiments; we did 3 tries as we believed it would have increased precision enough for reliable results. As you will notice for the 3rd try we did not record pH for every ml added for time issues. It is to note that the volume of the titrant has an error of 0,1ml and not 0,05ml. The reason is that when 1 millimetre is added, one person says start and stop, while the other turns the valve. So the error of the burette ( 0,05ml) has to be multiplied by two, as it is done by both team members.

Francesco Chiocchio 001386-051

Here are shown our results, the pH changes given different volume of titrant.
Volume of Titrant ml 0,1ml 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 12,04 12,05 12,01 12,03 11,98 11,97 11,9 11,95 11,92 11,9 11,8 11,87 11,84 11,82 11,69 11,78 11,74 Try 1 pH 0,2 2,59 2,58 2,66 2,87 2,89 3,04 3,12 3,16 3,28 3,36 3,40 3,48 3,58 3,63 3,72 3,80 3,85 3,93 4,06 4,11 4,24 4,40 4,62 4,95 5,94 10,62 10,91 11,39 11,56 2,55 2,63 2,63 3,00 3,05 3,13 3,22 3,31 3,37 3,43 3,51 3,56 3,66 3,72 3,76 3,86 3,95 4,05 4,12 4,30 4,43 4,77 5,12 5,63 9,38 10,06 11,05 11,40 11,57 11,70 4,27 4,39 4,60 4,90 5,45 6,61 9,50 10,28 10,89 11,27 11,45 4,02 3,86 3,72 3,59 3,44 3,29 3,13 3,00 2,95 Try 2 pH 0,2 Try 3 pH 0,2 2,45 Mean pH 0,2 2,52 2,57 2,75 2,75 2,96 3,05 3,13 3,19 3,29 3,37 3,42 3,50 3,58 3,65 3,72 3,78 3,86 3,94 4,04 4,12 4,27 4,41 4,66 4,99 5,67 8,87 10,16 10,91 11,28 11,42 11,63

Francesco Chiocchio 001386-051

From the data above we elaborated a graph, we did it using computer software, but it can be done by hand as well. The blue squares are the values while the red line is the line of best fit.

Average
14 12 10 8 pH

Equivalence
6 4 2 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 volume added (cm3)

Data analysis: As written before, to find pKa we need the pH of the weak acid at half of the equivalence point. The first step is therefore to calculate the equivalence point; this can is done using the graph. The equivalence point is in the middle of the step where the solution changes from acidic to basic. Theoretically this step should be a vertical line, but as we have errors our line is oblique. We can estimate that the equivalence is 25 ml, pH of 7,6. This means that half of the equivalence is 12,5 ml, from the graph, we can see that the volume added of 12,5 gives us a pH of 3,6. Thus from our data we find that the pKa is 3,6, but now we have to calculate the errors to give a pKa range of values. Errors calculation: In this section we will calculate the errors of any apparatus used, we will use percentage error and in the end add all together to give a percentage error for our value of pKa. Error of pH metre: 0,2 pH parts; pH at half equivalence point is 3,6; percentage error = 5,56% Error from burette containing acid : 0,05 ml, as we said before, this has to be multiplied by two; acid put in conical flask is 20 ml; percentage error= 5 =0,50% =

Francesco Chiocchio 001386-051

Error from burette containing base: 0,05 ml, as we stated before, this has to be multiplied by 2; at equivalence point volume added is 25 ml at half equivalence point is 12,5; percentage error= =0,80% Total apparatus percentage error: 5,56%+0,50%+0,80%=6,86% Thus pKa=3,6 6,86%; or 3,6 0,25

Conclusion: So we know that the weak acid that we used has to have a pKa in the range of 3,53 pKa 3,85 Using the 2009 chemistry IB Data booklet we can find the weak acid we used. The only weak acid which has a pKa in this range is Methanoic acid, pKa of 3,75. By using another table of Data found on a website1 we can find other possible acids which could be in the solution we used, and this is nitrous acid, pKa of 3,4. After the experiment the teacher told us that the weak acid was methanoic acid. Thus we could calculate our final error in percentage, which is to be valid. To conclude, our initial hypothesis was that at half of the volume needed to reach the equivalence point, the concentration of hydrogen ions is equal to the Ka of the reaction. I have shown true the experiment that this is true. =4%, this shows that the experiment can be considered

Evaluation: I will discuss on how this experiment could be improved, without using very expensive apparatus. First of all, taking a lot of trials will increase the accuracy of the data, giving to more reliable results. In our experiments we used burettes with plastics taps, it has been suggeseted to change the plastic to ceramic. However, this will not change drastically the results, as the plastic ones tend to be quite good to open and close too. For lower errors, greater volume of the weak acid should be used, this will make the 0,05ml of error become a much smaller percentage. The use of a data logger would be recommended, this will allow us to create immediately graphs, with the proper software, now exactly the volume used for the equivalence point. As I stated before, the titration between an acid and a base is an exothermic reaction, this means that it is hard to control the internal temperature. Higher temperatures mean that the particles have higher energy. To keep it constant, a conical flask, where the neutralisation is occurring, should be placed in a box filled with water at room temperature; the water will decrease the rate of the change in temperature. However, the change in temperature is small, thus my partner and I did not consider that it will affect to results. Safety: In any experiment which involves the use of acids or bases, protective goggles must be used at all time, as the substance may splash into the eyes, causing severe damages; the laboratory etiquette must be followed strictly to avoid any dangerous situation.