30 March 2016

Chemistry Laboratory 13A Introduction to Acids and Bases

Martin Sun
Purpose
The purposes of this experiment were to:
-

become familiar with a variety of typical laboratory tests for acids and bases;
develop operational definitions of acids and bases;
develop conceptual definitions of acids and bases; and
test a variety of household products and classify them as acids or bases.

Materials and Methods

The materials and methods for this laboratory followed the procedures laid out in
Experiment 13A on pages 187 to 190 of Essential Experiments for Chemistry by Morrison and
Scodellaro with the following exceptions:
-

magnesium filings were used in place of magnesium ribbon;

approximately 5 drops were used to half-fill the microwell plates in place of 2-3 drops.
ginger ale was used in place of 7-up;
the magnesium filings were reacted in wells instead of test tubes; and
in addition to the six household products, orange pop was used.

Observations
For this experiment, six indicators were used: phenolphthalein solution, methyl orange
solution, red litmus paper, blue litmus paper, and magnesium metal. The original colours of
these indicators were colourless, red, red, blue, and grey respectively. All unknown solutions A
to F were colourless.

Part 1: Tests of Unknown Solutions

To begin the experiment, two microwell plates were obtained, each containing 12 wells.
Five wells were half filled with solutions A and B each using dropping pipettes so that a total of
10 wells were half filled. To both solutions, 2 drops of phenolphthalein and methyl orange
solution, a strip of red and blue litmus paper, and one piece of magnesium metal were added in
separate wells. The microwell plate was then washed thoroughly. This was repeated for
solutions C and D as well as E and F. It was observed that upon addition of phenolphthalein
solution, solutions A, D, and F became purple while solutions B, C and E remained colourless.
Upon addition of methyl orange solution, solutions A, D and F became orange while solutions B,
C, and E became red. When red litmus paper was added, it became blue in solutions A, D, and F,
but remained red in solutions B, C, and E. When blue litmus paper was added, it became red in
solutions B, C and E but remained blue in solutions A, D, and F. When magnesium metal filings
were added, bubbles formed in solutions B, C, and E, indicating a reaction, but no changes were
observed in solutions A, D, and F. A pattern can be noticed: solutions A, D, and F and solutions
B, C and E went through the same property changes. After the experiment, we were notified that
the unknown solutions A to F were NaOH, HCl, HNO3, Ca(OH)2, H2SO4, and KOH, respectively.
Table 1 below summarizes the property changes these solutions underwent in the experiment.
Table 1. Summary of the property changes that were observed after addition of chemical
indicators or magnesium metal for the six unknown solutions. All solutions A to F were
colourless initially.
Solutio
n
A
B
C
D
E
F

Chemical Indicators
Phenolphthalei
n
Purple
Colourless
Colourless
Purple
Colourless
Purple

Magnesiu

Methyl Orange

Red Litmus

Blue Litmus

m Metal

Orange
Red
Red
Orange
Red
Orange

Blue
Red
Red
Blue
Red
Blue

Blue
Red
Red
Blue
Red
Blue

None
Bubbles
Bubbles
None
Bubble
None

Part 2: Tests of Common Household Products

The same chemical indicators and magnesium metal were added to seven different
household products: vinegar, Easy-Off oven cleaner, household ammonia, ginger ale, lemon
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juice, Milk of Magnesia, and orange pop. The vinegar was colourless, the oven cleaner was
milky, the ammonia was colourless, the ginger ale was a transparent golden colour, lemon juice
was yellow, Milk of Magnesia was milky and viscous, and orange pop was orange. The property
changes these products underwent are summarized in Table 2 below.
Table 2. Summary of the property changes that were observed after addition of chemical
indicators or magnesium metal for the seven household products. A property change of
none denotes that the household product remained its original colour or no observable
reaction took place when magnesium was added.
Magnesium

Chemical Indicators
Solution
Vinegar
Oven Cleaner
Ammonia
Ginger Ale
Lemon Juice
Milk of
Magnesia
Orange Pop

Phenolphthalei

Methyl

n
None
Purple
Purple
None
None

Orange
Red
Orange
Orange
Red
Red

Purple
None

Red Litmus

Metal
Blue

Red
Blue
Blue
Red
Red

Litmus
Red
Blue
Blue
Red
Red

Bubbles
None
None
Bubbles
Bubbles

Orange

Blue

Blue

None

Red

Red

Red

Bubbles

Results
In this experiment, the six unknown solutions dissociated according to the following
balanced net ionic equations.

1. NaOH(aq) Na+(aq) + OH-(aq)

2. HCl(aq) H+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

3. HNO3(aq) H+(aq) + NO3-(aq)

4. Ca(OH)2(aq) Ca2+(aq) + 2OH-(aq)
5. H2SO4(aq) 2H+(aq) + SO42-(aq)
6. KOH(aq) K+(aq) + OH-(aq)
With regards to the property changes that were observed, the solutions can be divided
into two groups which underwent very similar changes. It can be seen from Table 1 that one
group was solutions A, D, and F, which were NaOH, Ca(OH)2, and KOH, and the other was
solutions B, C, and E, which were HCl, HNO3 and H2SO4. It was already known that magnesium
reacts with acids, not bases, and therefore, it is known that solutions B, C and E were acids.
Therefore, since solutions A, D and F did not react with magnesium, they were bases. Overall, it
can then be summarized that operationally, acids react with magnesium, turn phenolphthalein
transparent, turn litmus paper pink, and turn methyl orange red, and bases do the opposite, not
reacting with magnesium, turning phenolphthalein purple, turning litmus paper blue, and turning
methyl orange, orange. Observing Equations 2, 3, and 5, the acid dissociation equations, all of
the acid solutions HCl, HNO3 and H2SO4 dissociated H+ ions, and observing Equations 1, 4, and
6, the base dissociation equations, all of the base solutions dissociated OH- ions. Therefore, a
conceptual definition for acids and bases can be obtained: acids dissociate H+ ions, increasing the
concentration H+ and bases dissociate OH- ions, increasing the concentration of OH-. Table 3
below summarizes acid-base properties of the unknown solutions.
Table 3. Summary of the acid-base properties of solutions A to F used in this experiment.
Unknown Solution
Chemical Formula
Acid or Base
Chemical Dissociation
A
NaOH
Base
Dissociate OHB
HCl
Acid
Dissociate H+
C
HNO3
Acid
Dissociate H+
D
Ca(OH)2
Base
Dissociate OHE
H2SO4
Acid
Dissociate H+
F
KOH
Base
Dissociate OHSimilarly, the household products can be divided into two groups with regards to their
reactivity with magnesium. Vinegar, ginger ale, lemon juice, and orange pop all reacted with
magnesium, and are therefore acids. The other household products, oven cleaner, household
ammonia, and milk of magnesia did not react with magnesium, and were therefore bases. The
other property changes using the chemical indicators in Table 2 confirm that this is true, as
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vinegar, ginger ale, lemon juice, and orange pop all turned phenolphthalein transparent, turned
litmus paper pink, and turned methyl orange red, and oven cleaner, household ammonia, and
milk of magnesia, turned phenolphthalein purple, turned litmus paper blue, and turned methyl
orange, orange. In addition, all the bases were cleaning products, and bases are known to be
effective at cleaning. Table 4 below summarizes these findings.
Table 4. Summary of the acid-base properties and chemical formulas of the active ingredients of
the household products used in this experiment.
Acid or

Chemical

Base
Acid

Dissociation
Dissociate H+

Base

Dissociate OH-

NH3

Base

Dissociate OH-

C6H8O7
C6H8O7 (citric acid)
Mg(OH)2
C6H8O7 (citric acid)

Acid
Acid
Base
Acid

Dissociate H+
Dissociate H+
Dissociate OHDissociate H+

Household Product

Chemical Formula

Vinegar

CH3COOH (acetic acid)

NaOH (varies between

Oven Cleaner
Household
Ammonia
Ginger Ale
Lemon Juice
Milk of Magnesia
Orange Pop

brands)

Curiously, NH3 is a base even though it does not have any OH- ions to dissociate. This
can be explained as in water, NH3 reacts as so:
7. NH3 + H2O NH4+ + OHThis is how NH3 increases the concentration of OH- and function as a base. All of the
acid-base analysis has been on the basis of the Arrhenius acid-base theory, but there exists more,
such as the BrnstedLowry and Lewis acid-base theories.

Conclusion
In this laboratory, the conceptual definition for acids and bases have been obtained by
grouping together chemicals which reacted similarly to indicators. It can be summarized that
operationally, acids react with magnesium, turn phenolphthalein transparent, turn litmus paper
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pink, and turn methyl orange red, and bases do the opposite, not reacting with magnesium,
turning phenolphthalein purple, turning litmus paper blue, and turning methyl orange, orange.
The conceptual definition obtained was that acids dissociate H+ ions, increasing the H+
concentration while bases dissociate OH- ions, increasing the OH- concentration.

Questions
1. The acid-base properties of the six unknown solutions are summarized below.
Table 5. Summary of the acid-base properties of solutions A to F used in this experiment.
Unknown Solution
A
B
C
D
E
F
B.

Chemical Formula
NaOH
HCl
HNO3
Ca(OH)2
H2SO4
KOH

Acid or Base
Base
Acid
Acid
Base
Acid
Base

Chemical Dissociation
Dissociate OHDissociate H+
Dissociate H+
Dissociate OHDissociate H+
Dissociate OH-

The conceptual definition for acids and bases is that acids dissociate H+ ions,

increasing the H+ concentration while bases dissociate OH- ions, increasing the OHconcentration.
2. A. The acid-base properties and chemical formulas of the active ingredients of the
household products are summarized below.
Table 6. Summary of the acid-base properties and chemical formulas for the active ingredients
of the household products used in this experiment.
Acid or

Chemical

Base
Acid

Dissociation
Dissociate H+

Base

Dissociate OH-

NH3

Base

Dissociate OH-

C6H8O7

Acid

Dissociate H+

Household Product

Chemical Formula

Vinegar

CH3COOH (acetic acid)

NaOH (varies between

Oven Cleaner
Household
Ammonia
Ginger Ale

brands)

Lemon Juice
Milk of Magnesia
Orange Pop

C6H8O7 (citric acid)

Mg(OH)2
C6H8O7 (citric acid)

Acid
Base
Acid

Dissociate H+
Dissociate OHDissociate H+

Ginger ale and orange pop both contain some carbonic acid, H2CO3 which is attributed to
their fizziness, but this is rather insignificant compared to the amount of citric acid.
B. As can be seen in Table 6, vinegar contains acetic acid while lemon juice, ginger ale
and orange pop contains citric acid. These are carboxylic acids, and dissociate H+ ions. H2CO3,
carbonic acid, dissociates H+ ions. The bases all dissociate OH ions due to the hydroxide ion in
their chemical formula except for seemingly NH3, but according to Equation 7, NH3 reacts with
water to produce NH4+ and OH-, still increasing the concentration of OH- and following the
conceptual definition.
3. A. Arrhenius states that "an acid is a substance that increases the concentration of
hydrogen ions in a solution," while "a base is a substance that increases the concentration
of hydroxide ions in a solution."
Reference: http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/acidbaseeqia/theories.html
B. The conceptual definitions that I used were all based on the Arrhenius acid-base
theory. Similarly, the BrnstedLowry can still be used as a conceptual definition,
simplifying the case with NH3 as it is a base because it is a proton acceptor.
4. A. Because acid rain is composed of sulphuric acid and/or nitric acid, and does not
contain any basic substances, tests using chemical indicators will show that the test
sample is acidic. Therefore, the addition of phenolphthalein does not change the clear
colour of the sample, but methyl orange will turn red, red litmus paper will remain red,
blue litmus will turn red, and bubbles will form on magnesium metal which it comes into
contact with the sample. The operational definition is maintained.
B. According to the conceptual definition of an acid, both sulphuric acid and nitric acid
should have a spare H+ ion that can be donated in solution, and therefore, there should be
an available hydrogen atom on the compound which can dissociate.

C. The chemical formulas for sulphuric acid and nitric acid are H2SO4 and HNO3
respectively, both of which can dissociate H+ ions due to the hydrogen atoms on the
molecule.
Reference: BC Ministry of Education Chemistry 12 Data Booklet, Page 6.