Introduction

A titration is a process used to determine the volume of a solution needed to react with a given amount of another substance. In this experiment, you will titrate hydrochloric acid solution, HCl, with a basic sodium hydroxide solution, NaOH. The concentration of the NaOH solution is given and you will determine the unknown concentration of the HCl. Hydrogen ions from the HCl react with hydroxide ions from the NaOH in a one-to-one ratio to produce water in the overall reaction:

{{\text{H}}^{\text{ + }}}{\text{(aq) + C}}{{\text{l}}^{\text{ - }}}{\text{(aq) N}}{{\text{a}}^{\text{ + }}}{\text{(aq) + O}}{{\text{H}}^{\text{ - }}}{\text{(aq)}} \to {{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{O(1) + N}}{{\text{a}}^{\text{ + }}}{\text{(aq) + C}}{{\text{l}}^{\text{ - }}}{\text{(aq)}}

When HCl solution is titrated with NaOH solution, the pH value of the acidic solution is initially low. As base is added, the change in pH is quite gradual until close to the equivalence point, when equimolar amounts of acid and base have been mixed. Near the equivalence point, the pH increases very rapidly. The change in pH then becomes more gradual again, before leveling off with the addition of excess base.

Objectives

In this experiment, you will

  • Perform a microscale acid-base titration.
  • Monitor pH.
  • Determine the approximate concentration of the acid used in the titration.