DISCUSSION

PREPARATION OF BUFFER SOLUTION

The purpose of this experiment is to study the effect_______.Buffers are usually

consisting of two or more chemical in the compound solution that react to prevent and resist
changes in H+ when it be added with acid or base in the solution. Weak acid and weak conjugate
base is the part of buffer that are dissociated near or at the normal pH range of ECF (extracellular
fluid). If a solution to react without a buffer and acid is added to the solution, the pH changes to a
low value rapidly. However, if it is added with a few drops of buffer and acid is added, the H +
will combines with the buffer thus making the pH of the solution to change very little.

In this experiment, there are two part which in Part A is the preparation of the buffer
solution by using the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation.500 ml 0.1 M buffer with pH 5.0 is
prepared by using 0.1 M of both solution citric acid and sodium citrate. The volume of citric acid
and sodium citrate is calculated by using the equation which are 182.48ml and 317.52 ml
respectively which is then the volume is divided by 2 each for experiment purpose. Part B is to
test the effectiveness of the buffer solution by testing the solution pH by adding hydrochloric
acid and sodium hydroxide to the solution.

The initial pH of the buffer and distilled water are 5.14 and 6.6 respectively. When both
solution is added with hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, the pH is expected to change
drastically since HCl and NaOH are both strong acid and base. The pH of distilled water drop to
2.2 when added HCl and increased when added of NaOH to 11.5. This is expected to be
happening. However, there is only a slight difference with the expected pH in the buffer solution.
The pH of buffer becomes 4.18 when added to HCl, and 5.20 when added NaOH. There is
significant rise and fall of pH value in the solution without buffer, while in the solution with few
drops of buffer, there is only a slight difference number of pH changes.

Acidity is considered as having an excess of hydrogen ions (H +) over hydroxyl ions (OH-)
while alkalinity is by the excess of OH - over H+. However, diluting buffer has an effect towards
ph. It is important for many reactions for example like the analysis of enzymatic methods. When
you add two basic chemicals together it will form equilibrium. The pH of the final buffer
solution is controlled by the ratio of these two species which is the weak acid or base conjugate.
Henderson-Hasselbalch Equation explain this reaction through this equation:

Previously in the equation it explained the process reaction easily by having Ka

expression that is often used to calculate the pH of buffer solutions. The mathematical
relationship shown in the equation is between the weak acid pKa and the pH of a buffer. The
buffer pH can be manipulated and controlled by changing the ratio of [conjugate base] to [weak
acid]. There is a special case where when [weak acid] = [conjugate base], the ratio of
concentrations is equal to 1 and the pH of the buffer solution equals the weak acid pKa. When
[weak acid] = [conjugate base], pH = pKa + log (1) = pKa + 0 = pKa . The buffer components
can be chosen based on the relationship between weak acid pKa and the target pH for the buffer
which is by controlling the ratio. It should contain significant amounts of both weak acid and
conjugate base for the buffer to be effective. Such effective buffers, which is the best to resist pH
change upon addition of a strong acid or base, it has the ratio of between 1:10 and 10:1 for the
conjugate base to weak acid. Because when log (10/1) = 1, this means that in a buffer ph is
approximately equal to the weak acid pKa at 1. This type of buffer solution has high buffer
capacity which describe the amount of strong base or acid that can be added to a buffer without
having a drastic change in pH. (Levie, 2000)

So, when you added strong acid like HCl to the buffer solution, the acid reacts with the
conjugate base and is completely consumed. Without being affected by the addition of the strong
acid, the ph of buffer solution only decrease slightly. For example, is the reaction of when H3O +
is added to a CH3CO2H/NaCH3CO2 buffer, it consumes some of the conjugate base, and
forming additional acetic acid:H3O+(aq) + CH3CO2 (aq) S H2O() + CH3CO2H(aq). While
when you add strong base to a buffer, the base reacts with the weak acid and is completely
consumed. The buffer solution increased only slightly despite of the strong base added. For
example, is when OH is added to a CH3CO2H/NaCH3CO2 buffer, it consumes some of the
weak acid and forms additional acetate ion: OH(aq) + CH3CO2H(aq) S H2O() + CH3CO2
(aq)

Oxford Chemistry Primers, Robert De Levie (2000) Chapter 17 Advanced Acid Base
Equilibria [Online]. [ Accessed 12 March 2017]. Available from World Wide Web:
http://www.cengage.com/chemistry/discipline_content/owl/support/chapters/owlbook_ch17.pdf