Sourabh Das

25/01/2014

Titration Analysis of Vinegar

Question:
What is the molar concentration in a sample of vinegar?

Pre-Lab:
CH3COOH(aq) + NaOH(aq) NaCH3COO(aq) + H2O(l) mNaOH = 2.61g nNaOH = MNaOH = 40.00 g/mol Mole ratio of NaOH 1 : CH3COOH : 1

= 0.06525 mol

vNaOH = 1.0L CNaOH = = 0.06525 mol/L vNaOH (titration) = 0.01 L nNaOH (titration) = cv = 6.525 x 10-4

= 0.0006525 mol x = 0.0006525 mol = = = =

Materials:
Sample of NaOH(aq) Vinegar Phenolphthalein Distilled water 2 100-mL beakers 250-mL beaker 100-mL volumetric flask with stopper 50-mL buret 10-mL volumetric pipet Pipet bulb Ring stand Buret clamp Stirring rod Small funnel 2 250-mL Erlenmeyer flasks Meniscus finder

Procedure:

1.

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4.

Sourabh Das

25/01/2014

Observations:
Initial Reading Final Reading Difference Trial 1 0.70 15.70 15.00 Trial 2 15.70 29.25 13.55 Trial 3 29.25 42.75 13.50 Trial 4 34.60 49.00 14.40 Trial 5 19.90 34.60 14.70 Average

14.23 mL

Analysis:
From the equation that we have derived in the pre-lab, we can plug in the volume v, with the average volume of 14.23 mL = 0.01423 L = = = 0.458 mol/L

Evaluation:
The method of titration that we used does not give the most precise calculation of the concentration of the acetic acid. There are many steps in this process where there can be minor errors. The sum of all these errors may lead to a large error in the final calculation. Though the buret reading is measureable up to 2 d.p. of a mL, parallax and the meniscus of the solution can lead to an incorrect reading of the value. Also, a pipette is used in multiple steps: first to dilute the vinegar, then again to measure the amount of dilute solution to be titrated. This may lead to the concentration and volume to be slightly inaccurate, due to drops not completely being emptied from the pipette when transferring. These are all small inaccuracies that may build up. However, the area of largest error lies during the actual titration process. Since the colour change of the liquid is a qualitative observation, the point where the solution crosses the neutral point is hard to observe. Using the phenolphthalein as our indicator, the majority of our final solutions were a little more pink then just a slight tint. This made each solution slightly basic, making the average volume slightly greater than what the perfect amount should be. As it was a qualitative analysis, it was impossible to tell how basic each solution became at the end of each titration. A better experiment might have been to titrate vinegar with NaOH a number of times, then to titrate NaOH with vinegar the same number of times, and then calculate the average from all these experiments. All in all, the equipment used in this experiment was pretty accurate: the volumetric flask, pipette and buret all giving an accuracy of up to 2 decimal places, however due to the non-quantitative analysis of the colour change, I would not calculate the concentration of the vinegar with a precision over 3 s.f.