EXPERIMENT 3

NEUTRALISATION CAPACITY OF COMMERCIAL ANTACID TABLET

Objectives
1. To prepare Hydrochloric Acid Solution.
2. To standardize the Acid against Sodium Hydroxide.
3. To determine Neutralisation Capacity of a Commercial Antacid Tablet.
Introduction
In this experiment you will prepare an approximate concentration of hydrochloric
acid solution and standardize it against the now standard sodium hydroxide
solution which you have prepared in Experiment 2. Hydrochloric acid is also not a
primary standard because it concentrated solution vapourises rapidly at room
temperature. Once the accurate molarity of the hydrochloric acid solution is
known, it is then referred to as a standard solution; a solution of accurately
known concentration. In terms of ranking, the KHP earlier is the primary
standard; the NaOH solution is the secondary standard and now HCl is
standardised against a secondary standard solution making it a tertiary standard
solution. You will then use this standardised HCl solution to determine the
neutralisation capacity of a commercial antacid tablet. The concept of backtitration is also demonstrated here.
The active ingredient in antacid tablets is usually carbonate ion (CO 32-) or
hydroxide ion (OH-). Therefore, antacids work by neutralising excess acid in the
stomach. The purpose of this experiment is to determine the mass and
percentage of hydroxide ion or equivalent hydroxide that is present in the
tablet, where one mole of carbonate s equivalent to the neutralising capacity of
two moles of hydroxide. In other words, the neutralising capacity of the tablet is
the amount of hydrochloric acid that it can neutralise. The antacid tablet does
not dissolve in water alone, but requires the presence of HCl to dissolve. Since
the HCl is in excess, only some of the added HCl will react with the base present
in the tablet. The remaining amount of HCl is then analysed with the standard
NaOH solution from Experiment 2. The difference in the amount of HCl added
initially in excess and the remaining HCl gives the amount of HCl that reacted
with the antacid and thus the neutralisation capacity of the antacid tablet. The
calculated amount of HCl that reacted also give you the mass and percentage of
hydroxide of equivalent hydroxide in the tablet. This experiment gives you the
feeling of analysing real life samples that are often more complicated.
Procedures
A. Preparation of the Hydrochloric Acid Solution
1. The volume of 6.0 M HCl were calculated needed to prepare 250 mL of
0.5 M HCl. Also the rough volume of distilled water were calculated.
Pour about 80% of the required distilled water into a 500 mL conical
flask. Using a graduated cylinder, measure and transfer the calculated
volume of 6.0 M HCl to the conical flask. Add distilled water to make up

to 250 mL mark on the conical flask. Carefully cover the flask using
parafilm and mix the solution well. Parafilm is expendable so a small
piece of it will do the job well. The solution were labelled.
B. Standardisation of the Acid against Sodium Hydroxide
In this procedure, the secondary standard NaOH solution (from Experiment 2)
will be used to standardise the HCl solution prepared above to form a tertiary
standard.
1. 50 mL burette were rinsed and filled with your standard NaOH solution.
The initial reading were recorded after checking and removing the air
bubbles at the burettes tip.
2. 10.0 mL of your prepared hydrochloric acid solution were transferred
accurately using a pipette into a clean conical flask. 20 mL distilled
water were added followed by 3 drops of phenolphthalein indicator to
the flask and titrate to the end-point with the standard NaOH solution.
The final reading were recorded and this titration were repeated at
least two more times.
C. Determination of Neutralisation Capacity of an Antacid Tablet
1. The above burette containing the NaOH solution were refilled. Check
and remove any air bubbles present at the tip. Record the initial
reading.
2. One antacid were obtained. Without touching the tablet with your
hands, weight the tablet and record its mass in your notebook.
Carefully, crush the antacid tablet using a mortal and pestle. Split the
crush tablet into two or three samples (depending on the weight of the
whole tablet, 0.2 g each sample ) of about similar weights. Reweigh
each sample to the nearest milligram. Record the mass of each crushed
sa,ples in your laboratory notebook. Transfer each sample to clean 250
mL conical flasks.
3. Measure approximately 25 mL of distilled water and pour it to the flask.
Carefully and accurately, dispense using a volumetric pipette, 25.0 mL
of your standard acid into the flask containing the crushed tablet. Next,
heat the contents in the flask on a hot plate. Boil gently the solution for
minutes. Be careful not to spill any samples due to very strong heat.
The sample may not be completely dissolved even after boiling due to
the presence of the `filler, but any base in the sample will have
reacted with the excess HCl. Check using litmus paper that the flask
now only contains the remaining acid solution.
4. Let the solution to cool down to room temperature by carefully placing
the flask in a beaker of tap water. Add 5 drops of phenolphthalein
indicator into the solution. The indicator changes colour from colourless
(acid) to red (base). Be very careful with the titration because the
endpoint is the pale pink colour. If you add too much base, you will
need to back-titrate with the standard HCl. That is, you will have to add
a carefully measured volume of standard HCl to return the solution to
colourless. You can titrate again to the end-point using the standard
base.

5. Repeat the experiment with the other two samples. Record all data into
your lab notebook.
Answers
1. When we add acid to water, acid protonates water to form hydronium ions. Since we start out
with water and then add acid the acid saturates the water slowly and the reaction rate is
somewhat controlled. If we do the reverse, the acid is already there and any water that is
added will immediately react with all the acid that is already there and may splash acid all over
the place. This procedural tip is basically a for safety purposes for students new to laboratory
procedure and may be ignorant to these types of safety techniques.
2. Mg(OH)2 (s) + 2 H+(aq) --------> 2 H2O (l) + Mg++(aq)

3.