Name: Nasya Teh Ming Xiu

Student ID: A0988

Unit 3: Practical 4 – To determine the molarity of a solution of sodium hydroxide by

titration against hydrochloric acid using methyl orange indicator.

Introduction:
Titration is a very useful laboratory technique whereby a solution is used to analyse
another solution. One of the solutions is the standard solution of known concentration and
is delivered from a burette. Titration involves the addition of the standard solution to a
measured volume of a solution of an unknown concentration until the reaction is
complete. To detect the completion of the reaction, an indicator is used. The point at
which the indictor changes colour is known as the end point. From the stoichiometry of
the titration reaction and the known concentration of the standard solution required to
complete the titration, we can calculate the concentration of the unknown solution. In this
practical, we are determining the volume of 1.0M hydrochloric acid required to neutralise
an unknown concentration of sodium hydroxide and hence determine the concentration of
sodium hydroxide. Methyl orange is used as the indicator to determine the end-point of
titration.

Objective:
To determine when neutralisation occurs by using methyl orange as an indicator.
To determine the concentration / molarity of sodium hydroxide.

Results:
Titration 1 Titration 2 Titration 3
3
Initial volume (cm 50.00 50.00 50.00
)
Final volume (cm3 ) 27.60 31.50 31.60
Titre volume (cm3) 22.40 18.50 18.40
Concordant Titres

Discussion:

In titration 2 and 3 we managed to obtain two concordant titre volumes. However in the
first titration we had an outstanding difference in titre volume compared to the other 2
titrations. This could be due to contamination of the apparatus such as the burette
contaminated by other solutions besides the one being tested.
Other possibilities include the burette may have been dirty and so affects volume of
measurements and maybe in the first titration we did not fill the conical flask with exactly
25 cm3 of sodium hydroxide. We could have placed more than 25 cm3 of sodium
hydroxide in the first titration so a lower volume of hydrochloric acid is required to
neutralise the alkali.
 Also, we may have misinterpreted the colour of methyl orange turning pink. Maybe it
has not completely turned pink in colour in the first titration but we thought that an
orange – pink colour is indeed pink. This is a valid possibility as we were ambivalent
whether the solution has completely turned pink in colour and so were inconsistent in
deciding when the reaction was complete. Consequently, we could have stopped the
titration too early in titration 1.
Finally, the measuring cylinder that we used to measure the 25 cm3 sodium hydroxide
and the beaker we used to pour hydrochloric acid into the beaker may be contaminated
with other solutions.

Calculation

1)

2)

3)

4) If we were to rinse the burette and the pipette with water instead the alkali and acid
would be diluted and thus produce inaccurate results.