Chemistry Lab

Determination of Iron Percentage by Redox Titration

Pre-Lab Discussion
Titration can be a useful method for analyzing redox reactions. An oxidation-reduction
redox! reaction is one "here electrons are transferred from a reducing agent to an
oxidizing agent. The math for a redox titration "or#s $ust li#e an acid-base titration.
Assuming a one-to-one stoichiometry% the number of moles of oxidizing agent "ill e&ual
the number of moles of reducing agent. That allo"s us to use the same titration e&uation%
'()( * '+)+
If the stoichiometric ratio is not one-to-one% "e need to ad$ust the e&uation $ust li#e "e
did for ,oly,rotic acids.
The ,ermanganate 'n-.
-!
ion is often used in redox titrations because it is a strong
oxidizing agent and it has a bright ,ur,le color. If a solution containing ,ermanganate is
titrated into an analyte% the ,ur,le color "ill disa,,ear as the ,ermanganate oxidizes the
analyte and is reacted a"ay. /e #no" the reaction is com,lete "hen the ,ur,le color
,ersists in the solution. Thus% the ,ermanganate ion is a self-indicator0 that is% it acts as
its o"n indicator.
In this lab% "e "ill use ,otassium ,ermanganate to oxidize the iron II! ion to iron III!.
The reaction must occur in acidic solution to ,re1ent the unstable 2e
+3
ion from oxidizing
"ith the air. Thus% "e "ill add sulfuric acid to the solution before titrating. Also% the
addition of ,hos,horic acid "ill ,re1ent the a,,earance of the yello" color of 2e
43
ions
"hich "ould other"ise ma#e it difficult to see the ,ermanganate color. 5sing the result
of the titration% "e can determine the moles of 2e in the analyte% con1ert to grams% and
find the ,ercent 2e for the sam,le.
-b$ecti1e
The ob$ecti1e of this lab is to find the ,ercent iron in an iron II! com,ound.
'ethodology
(. 'ass out roughly (.66 g of an iron II! com,ound and add it to an 7rlenmeyer flas#.
+. 5se a 1olumetric flas# to ma#e a 6.(66 ' solution of 8'n-..
4. Clean a buret and fill it "ith your 8'n-. solution.
.. Dissol1e the iron com,ound in 96 mL of ( ' :+;-..
9. Immediately titrate the 8'n-. into the solution. /hen a light yello" color de1elo,s
in the solution% add 4.6 mL of :4P-. and continue titrating.
(
Chemistry Lab
Determination of Iron Percentage by Redox Titration
<. Titrate until the ,ur,le color of the ,ermanganate solution ,ersists.
=. If time ,ermits% re,eat the ex,eriment and a1erage your results.
Analysis
2irst calculate the number of moles of 8'n-. titrated "ith the e&uation
n * ')
"here ' is the 'olarity of the solution and ) is the 1olume in liters that "ere used. In
this reaction% the stoichiometric ratio is 9>(0 that is% 9 mol of 2e
+3
react for e1ery ( mol of
'n-.
-
. To get the moles of iron% "e need to multi,ly the abo1e result by fi1e. If "e then
multi,ly the moles by the atomic mass of iron% "e can find the mass of iron in that "as in
the sam,le>
m * n'
The ,ercent iron is then found by di1iding the mass of iron by the mass of the original
sam,le and multi,lying by (66. If you ran more than one trial% a1erage the ,ercentage
results. If you #no" the identity of the iron com,ound% com,ute the theoretical 1alue for
the ,ercent of iron and find your relati1e error.
+