Kumansh Furia

Chemistry Lab report

Analysis of Aspirin Tablets
Aim
Determine the percentage of aspirin present in the aspirin tablets.
PROCEDURE
Note the Brand name and the price of the Aspirin Tablets that are being used. Weigh
out accurately about 0.4g to 0.5g of tablets and put inside a 50 cm 3 conical flask
and dissolve in it 10 cm3 of 95% alcohol. Titrate with 0.100 mol dm-3of sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) using 2 drops of phenolphthalein solution as an indicator.

Data collection
Table 1: Quantitative and qualitative data
VOLUME OF
NAOH USED

TRIAL 1

TRIAL 2

TRIAL 3

22.4

21.6

22.1

c m3 ( 0.005)
OBSERVATION

MASS OF TABLET

First, when crushing the tablet, the orange colored coating of

the tablet sticks to the white powder and adds to the total
weight.
During titration color of the solution changes from colorless
to light shade of pink as the process moves further.
Brand name of the tablet: USV limited

0.6 0.01 g

Data processing
Table 2: Average volume calculated for NaOH along with its error.
Volume of
NaOH
used
22.4
21.6
22.1

Mean

22.03

Precision

Accuracy

Range

Deviation

Error

Error%

0.8

0.404

0.005

0.0226

Kumansh Furia

++ H 2 O
C6 H 5 ( OCOC H 3 ) COOH + NaOH C 6 H 5 ( OCOC H 3 ) COONa
Table 3: %weight of aspiring calculated along with uncertainty
PROCESSING

UNCERTAINTY

MOLES OF NAOH
3

%uncertainty of concentration=

0.100 22.03 10 =2.203 10

0.005
100=5
0.1

%uncertainty of moles of NaOH= 5.02

MOLES OF ASPIRIN
NAOH : ASPIRIN = 1 : 1

No uncertainty involved

2.203 103 5.02

MOLECULAR MASS OF
ASPIRIN=181.18
MASS OF ASPIRIN IN SAMPLE
3

2.203 10 181.18=0.3991 0.40

Uncertainty:

MASS% OF ASPIRIN PRESENT IN

ASPIRIN SAMPLE

0.4
100=66.66
0.6

5.02

%uncertaintymass of aspirin sample

( 0.6 gm) =5.02

%uncertaintymass of tablet (1 gm)=6.18

% mass of aspirin in tablet= 66.66( 6.18 )

Conclusion
The calculated results show that the aspirin present in 0.6gm of sample is 0.4gm. In
1gm of sample there would be 0.67 gm of aspirin present.
The literature value of mass of aspirin in 1gm tablet=0.75 grams
%deviation=

( 0.750. 67 )
100=10 .67 ( 6.18 )
0.75

The result shows an error of around 10%. This could be because there was
less volume of NaOH used in titration and the titration was stopped early.
Human error involved in stopping the flow of NaOH.

Evaluation

Kumansh Furia
The percentage uncertainty of 10% shows that the results are not within the limits
of experimental accuracy. The error could have occurred due to the following
systematic and random errors and can be avoided by improving the method of the
experiment:
Problem and assumptions
Parallax error-wrong readings

Crushed pieces of the shell of the tablet

add on to the total weight of the
sample wrong result calculated
Left over in the grinderpowder stuck
in the grinder.

Other impurities (compounds) present

in the tablet. The tablets orange shell
would also have reacted with NaOH.
Other compounds present in the tablet
that make up the rest of the 25%mass
of the tablet were also present. Only
the mass and the moles of aspirin were
used in the calculations.
Reaction stopped as soon as the
solution turned light pink. Less volume
of NaOH would have been used.
Improper calculations.

Solution
To record the value of volume in the
burette by keeping the eyes horizontal
to the readings on the burette.
Separate the shell pieces after
crushing, to get the white powder or
peel the shell before crushing the tablet
Do not weigh the tablets and then crush
and use the sample. Rather the sample
should be crushed first and then the
powder should be extracted and
weighed.
The compounds should be identified
and included in the calculations

Always steer the solution for sufficient

time before adding more, so that the
NaOH added reacts completely with the
solution. Stop only when the sample
color turns dark pink