NAME:

DATE :
TITLE :

Ahmad Syazwan bin Suhaimi

7th July 2014
Analysis of the Iron Content in Iron Wool by Redox Titration

Collected Data
Qualitative Data:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Both concentrations, 0.5M and 2.0M sulphuric acid are colourless.

KMnO4 is dark purple in colour.
The post-reaction mixture of iron and sulphuric acid consists of grey precipitate.
The filtrate is clear with a green tint.
As the titration between the filtrate and KMnO4 proceeds, the titrate, which is the
filtrate, changes colour from a clear green tint to a yellowish solution and finally to a
pinkish solution.

Quantitative Data:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Mass of iron wool

: (1.00010.0001)g
Volume of 2.0M H2SO4
: (50.00.5)ml
Volume of 0.5M H2SO4
: (10.00.5)ml
Initial volume of KMnO4
: (50.00.08)ml
Volume of solution titrated (filtrate) : (25.00.03)ml

Titration run

Run 1
Run 2
Run 3

Volume of
titrate, iron +
sulphuric acid
solution, V1
(ml 0.03ml)
25.00
25.00
25.00

Initial volume
of titrant,
KMnO4, V2
(ml 0.08ml)

Final volume of
titrant, KMnO4,
V2
(ml 0.08ml)

Amount of
KMnO4 used,
V3
(ml 0.16ml)

50.00
50.00
50.00

32.30
32.50
32.40

17.70
17.50
17.60

Data Processing
The equation for the reaction between iron wool and sulphuric acid is:

Fe(s) + H2SO4 (aq) FeSO4 (aq) + H2 (s)

Iron is oxidised while H is reduced. SO42- is a spectator ion in the reaction, which is a single
displacement reaction, as Fe is more reactive than H.
Half equations:
Fe(s) Fe2+(aq) + 2e-

2H+(aq) + 2e- H2 (g)

The resulting solution from the reaction is FeSO4, a clear greenish solution due to the low
concentration of Fe2+.

The FeSO4 is added with a dilute solution of H2SO4 in order to dissolve the FeSO4 for titration
with KMnO4.

The equation for the titration:

10FeSO4(aq) + 8H2SO4(aq) + 2KMnO4 (aq) K2SO4(aq) + 2MnSO4(aq) + 5Fe2(SO4)3(aq) + 8H2O(l)
In this reaction Fe2+ is oxidised to Fe3+ while MnO4- is reduced.

Half equations:
Fe2+(aq) Fe3+(aq) + e-

MnO4-(aq) + 8H+(aq) + 5e- Mn2+(aq) + 4H2O(l)

Overall redox equation:

5Fe2+(aq) + MnO4-(aq) + 8H+(aq) 5Fe3+(aq) + Mn2+(aq) + 4H2O(l)

The gradual turning of the colour of titrate from colourless to pink is due to KMnO4 being
added in excess and there is no more Fe2+ ions to react with it. Therefore the amount of Fe2+
ion can be calculated from the amount of KMnO4 used for the titration.

Calculations
Number of moles of MnO4- ions reacted

concentration volume used

1000

(0.02) M (17.6 0.16) ml

1000

(0.0003520.0000032) mol

According to the redox equation:

5Fe2+(aq) + MnO4-(aq) + 8H+(aq) 5Fe3+(aq) + Mn2+(aq) + 4H2O(l)
1 mol of MnO4-

5 mol of Fe2+

(0.00035200.0000032) mol of MnO4-

(0.0017600.000016) mol of Fe2+

The 25ml FeSO4 has 0.00176 moles of Fe2+.

Since the sample of 25ml is taken from the 250ml solution, the number of moles of Fe2+ in the
250ml solution is:
(0.001760.000016) 10 = 0.017600.00016

The number of moles of Fe2+ in the FeSO4 obtained from the reaction between iron wool and
sulphuric acid, H2SO4 is 0.0176 moles.

Fe(s) + H2SO4 (aq) FeSO4 (aq) + H2 (s)

0.0176 mol
Since 1 mol of Fe produces 1 mol of Fe2+ ions in the equation, the number of moles of Fe
from iron wool is 0.0176 mol.
Mass of Fe in iron wool

(0.017600.00016) 55.85

(0.982960.00885) g

And thus, the percentage of Fe in iron wool is:

(0.98296 0.00885)
100
(1.00010 0.00001)

= (98.280.90)%

Uncertainty and Error Calculations

(

Percentage uncertainty of number of moles :

:
Percentage error in iron wool content:

:
:

1.6
0
+
)100
17.6 0.02

0.9%
experimental yieldtheoretical yield
100
theoretical yield
98 96
100
96

2.08%

Conclusion
From the experiment, the experimental value of the percentage of iron in the iron wool is
98.28%. This is not too far-fetched compared to the theoretical value which is 96%. This
percentage is obtained from calculating the number of moles of KMnO 4 using the average
volume of 17.6ml0.08ml from the titration. The error of 2.08% might be due to systematic
error, especially from the titration where the colour of titrate cannot be accurately determined,
leading to deviating volumes of KMnO4 added.
Evaluation
Some things might have led to the deviation of the experimental yield. Among them might be
the KMnO4 being added in excess in the titration. The decolourising of the KMnO 4 solution is
due to the MnO4- ions being reduced by Fe2+. The KMnO4 was added in excess to ensure that
all the Fe2+ ions have reacted, and the number of moles were calculated from the volume of
KMnO4 used. When the volume of KMnO 4 is in excess, the number of moles calculated will
be more than the actual number of moles in the experiment, hence leading to the percentage
calculated exceeding the theoretical yield. In order to reduce this error, the volume of the
KMnO4 should be recorded multiple times when the titration is nearing the end point. A
colorimeter should also be used to accurately determine the colour of titrate at the end point
of the titration, as observation using the eye might differ from one shade to the other.

References:
1. http://lawrencekok.blogspot.com/p/ib-chemistry.html
2. www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=36425.0