Steven Qvistorff 13-09-2011

Chemistry Side 1 af 8

Herlufsholm MKE

Acid Strength and the Equilibrium Law

Aim:
The aim of the experiment is: a) To find out whether the provided solution of HCl has the concentration stated on the bottle b) To list the provided acids according to their strengths c) To see if the Ka is in fact a constant for a given acid at different concentrations and constant temperature

Hypothesis:
In the titration experiment I believe that the provided solution of HCl will be off by 0.00100 M than the 0.100 M stated on the bottle. I believe that this is the case because in chemistry you round to 3.s.f. therefore if the actual molarity is between 0.0990 M and 0.101 M then if you round to 3.s.f. then they would state that the molarity would be 0.100 M. I predict that HCl will be the strongest, seeing to that HCl is a strong acid/base. HCOOH will be the middle, seeing to that HCOOH is a relatively weak acid/base. CH3COOH will be the weakest, seeing to that CH3COOH is a very weak acid/base. I do think that Ka will be a given acid at different concentrations and constant temperature due to the fact that I think that different concentrations will not affect Ka. Ka can only be affected by temperature.

Apparatuses:
The apparatuses that were used are: a stand a burette +- 0.05 a pipette (20ml) +- 0.035 beaker (50 ml) measuring flask (100 ml) +0.15 a magnet a device which makes the magnet rotate

Steven Qvistorff 13-09-2011

Chemistry Side 2 af 8 a pH meter +- 0.05 HCl 0.100M +- 0.0005 NaOH 0.100M +- 0.0005 Bromoethymol blue Funnel CH3COOH 0.100M +- 0.0005 HCOOH 0.100M +- 0.0005

Herlufsholm MKE

Method:
Colorimetric titration 1. Took a burette and attached it to a stand 2. Took 50ml beaker and put a magnet in the beaker 3. Put the magnetic device under the beaker 4. Took a pipette and put 20ml of HCl in the beaker 5. Took the bromoethymol blue and poured three drops into the HCl 6. Used the funnel and put NaOH into the burette 7. Took the start value of NaOH at its meniscus that was put in the burette 8. Stopped pouring NaOH when the HCl turned blue 9. Redo experiment due to human errors

Potentiometric titration 1. Followed the same first four steps as in the colorimetric titration 2. Used the potentiometer instead of the bromethymol blue 3. Placed the potentiometer in the HCl and made sure not to touch the magnet 4. Followed the last five steps as in the colorimetric titration Dilution 1. Gathered materials 2. Poured 10ml of HCOOH 0.100M into a glass beaker (100 ml)

Steven Qvistorff 13-09-2011 3. Measured pH 4.

Chemistry Side 3 af 8

Herlufsholm MKE

Poured 10ml HCOOH into a 100ml measuring flask and filled it with water to the mark.

5. flipped flask up and down 20 times to mix solution 6. pour 10ml of solution into 100ml measuring flask 7. rinsed pH meter 8. measure pH 9. pour solution into a rinsed 100ml measuring flask and filled up until mark 10. flipped up and down 20 times to mix solution 11. poured 10ml of solution into a rinsed beaker 12. rinsed pH meter 13. measured pH 14. calculated Ka value Steps 4 & 6 the solution was transferred via a pipette

Variables
Figure # 1 Independent NaOH +- 0.0005 Variables for Titration experiment Dependent HCl +- 0.0005 Controlled Bromethymol blue Temperature

Figure # 2

Variables for Dilution experiment Dependent pH value of different solutions HCl +- 0.0005 CH3COOH +- 0.0005 HCOOH +- 0.0005 Controlled Temperature Shaking

Independent Concentration mol dm-3

Raw Data:

Steven Qvistorff 13-09-2011

Chemistry Side 4 af 8

Herlufsholm MKE

Figure # 3 1st try Start : 0.7 End : 21.3 21.3 0.7 = 20.6

Titration Measurements 2nd try +- 0.05 Start : 0.6 +- 0.05 End : 20.9 +- 0.05 20.9 0.6 = 20.3 3rd try +- 0.05 Start : 0.3 +- 0.05 End : 20.6 +- 0.05 20.6 0.3 = 20.3 +- 0.05 +- 0.05 +- 0.05

Seeing to that the first try has human errors I will only use the average of the last two tries. pH of HCl Figure # 4 pH (y) +-0.05 0.88 1.05 1.55 2.00 2.20 2.40 2.50 2.55 2.65 2.70 2.78 2.84 3.04 3.12 3.20 3.40 3.52 4.31 9.80 10.5 10.75 10.9 11.1 pH numbers of HCl and volume of NaOH Volume of 0.100 NaOH ml (x) +-0.05 0 0.5 12.9 17.3 18.6 19.5 19.9 20.0 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.9 21.0 21.1 21.3 21.5 21.7 21.8 22.1

Figure 2 shows the pH of HCl and the volume of NaOH and shows the data of how the numbers relate to each other.

Dillusion
Figure # 5 pH of HCOOH, CH3COOH and HCl at 0.100, 0.0100 and 0.00100M

Steven Qvistorff 13-09-2011

Chemistry Side 5 af 8

Herlufsholm MKE

0.100M +- 0.0005 HCOOH 0.100M +-0.0005 2.35 = pH 0.0100M +-0.0005 2.86 = pH 0.00100M +-0.0005 3.21 = pH

0.100M +- 0.0005 CH3COOH 0.100M +-0.0005 2.88 = pH 0.0100M +-0.0005 3.34 = pH 0.00100M +-0.0005 3.90 = pH

0.100M +- 0.0005 HCl 0.100M +-0.0005 1.00 = pH 0.0100M +-0.0005 1.99 = pH 0.00100M +-0.0005 3.00 = pH

HCOOH, CH3COOH and HCl were all clear solution that are soluble. HCl is the strongest, HCOOH is in the middle and CH3COOH is the weakest. Processed Data: Figure # 6

VNaOH/ ml Figure # 6 shows the titration curve of a potentiometric titration of 0.100 M HCl Answering research question

Steven Qvistorff 13-09-2011

Chemistry Side 6 af 8

Herlufsholm MKE

a) To find out whether the provided solution of HCl has the concentration stated on the bottle HCl (aq) + NaOH (aq) NaCl (aq) + H2O (l)

cNaOH = 0.100 M VNaOH = 0.0203 dm3 nNaOH = c x V (React in ratio 1:1 therefore nNaOH = nHCl) cNaOH = 0.100 M VNaOH = 0.0203 dm3 nNaOH = 0.100 x 0.0203 moles nNaOH = 0.00203 moles therefore nHCl = 0.00203 moles n = 0.00203 mol/0.020 dm3 = 0.102 M Uncertainties: Pipette: 0.000035/0.020 x 100 = 0.175% NaOH: 0.00005/0.0203 x 100 = 0.246% HCl: 0.0005/0.100 x 100 = 0.05% 0.175% + 0.246% + 0.05% = 0.371% 0.102 M x 0.00371 = 0.102 M +- 0.0004 From this calculation I can say that the molarity written on the bottle was 0.0016-0.0024 less than the actual molarity. That means that the bottle value was 2% off the actual molarity. c) To see if the Ka is in fact a constant for a given acid at different concentrations and constant temperature HCl (aq) 0.100 M + H2O (aq) Cl+ H3O+ (aq) 0.88 = pH [H3O+] = 10 0.88M

Steven Qvistorff 13-09-2011

Chemistry Side 7 af 8

Herlufsholm MKE

Ka = {X2 / (CHA-x) = (10-0.88)2 / (0.100 M 10-0.88)} = -0.546 The answer can not be negative because the lowest HCl can be is 0.0999999 continuing, but since HCl is a very strong acid we can assume that HCl reacted almost to completion; approximately 0.09998.

Conclusion:
I can conclude that my hypothesis was incorrect for the titration experiment (a). I predicted an error of 0.00100 M off the bottle value, so between 0.0990M and 0.101M. The actual value was 0.102 +0.0004. Therefore I was 1% off my hypothesis. I can conclude that my hypothesis was correct for the dilution experiment (b). I predicted was that HCl would be the strongest, followed by HCOOH and then CH3COOH would be the weakest. I can conclude that my hypothesis was correct for the dilution experiment (c). Ka was not affected by different concentrations and constant temperature due to the fact that Ka can only be affected by temperature.

Analysis:
In my calculations for experiment a, I found the exact molarity of the bottle to be 0.102 M +- 0.004. Whereas the bottle states the molarity to be 0.100 M. In experiment b, it states in the data booklet that HCOOH has a pH = 3.75 and CH3COOH has a pH = 4.76. This shows that HCOOH is stronger than CH3COOH, but I know that HCl is a very strong acid/base compared to HCOOH, which is why HCl is the strongest of the three. In experiment c, Ka cannot be affected by different concentrations and constant temperature due to the fact that Ka can only be affected by temperature. A random error that occurred in both experiments was determining exactly how much HCl was in the pipette and exactly how much HCOOH and CH3COOH was in the pipette for the dilution experiment. Another random error would be hitting the magnet while doing the potentiometric titration because hitting the magnet with the potentiometric meter would cause some flaw in the pH values. A systematic error that occurred in the potentiometric titration was measuring the values of pH while adding the NaOH.

Steven Qvistorff 13-09-2011

Chemistry Side 8 af 8

Herlufsholm MKE