INTRODUCTION TO TITRATION TECHNIQUES

FA 1 is 0.100moldm-3 sodium hydroxide, NaOH(aq)

An acid neutralizes a bas to form a salt and water. Hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide are completely
ionized in water. We say they are a strong acid or base because they are completely ionized in solution. The
ions present in hydrochloric acid are H+(aq)and Cl-(aq) and in sodium hydroxide are Na+(aq) and OH-(aq).

HCl + NaOH NaCl + H2O

You are going to use the technique of titration to produce a sodium chloride solution. Titration is a very
accurate way of investigating the reaction of two solutions. It can be used to analyze the amount of a particular

ol N
substance in a solution. This is known as quantitative analysis. In a titration, one solution is placed in a

ge
burette and the other is placed in a conical flask using a pipette. The solution in the burette is then run into the
conical flask until there is a complete reaction. In this case you will completely neutralize a solution of sodium

C I
hydroxide with hydrochloric acid solution. You will use an indicator to tell you when there is complete

A
neutralization. The indicator changes color at the exact point of neutralization. In this case you may use any
acid-base indicator because you will titrate a strong acid with a strong base.

le
ar N
Method

1. Wash the burette with distilled water (aka deionised water) and then rinse with a little of the FA 2.
ed AS

2. Once the burette has been washed and rinsed out with the acid solution, fill it nearly to the top.
Clamp the burette carefully and run a little acid through into the beaker until the tip becomes full.
(Fill the burette with FA 2 solution and ensure the tip is full.)
3. The pipette can be cleaned in a similar way to the burette, remembering to finish by washing it out
with a little of the alkali solution, FA 1. (A pipette safety filler is used to draw a measured volume of
FA 1 solution from the beaker into the pipette.
C H

4. Rinse the conical flask with some deionised water. In this case it does not matter if there is some
water left in the flask after rinsing it.
5. Pipette exactly 25.0 cm3 of the 0.100mol dm-3 sodium hydroxide, FA 1, solution into a clean conical
flask. Now add two or three drops of acid-base indicator, methyl orange.
M

6. Now read the burette and record the reading in the middle row of a table like the one below. Be
careful that your eye is level with the bottom of the meniscus or your reading will not be accurate.
7. Place the conical flask below the burette on a white tile. Run FA 2 into the flak fairly quickly,
shaking it all the time. As soon as the color of the indicator changes, close the tap and note the final
burette reading. Record this result in your table above your initial reading. Subtract the initial
reading from the final reading to give you the volume of acid added.
8. The first titration is a rough titration to give you an idea of the volume you need to add to exactly
neutrlise the acid. It is quite likely that you added a slight excess of acid as you were doing the
titration quickly. Now repeat steps 2 to 7 but this time run in the acid quickly until you reach about
1cm3 less than the volume you added in the rough titration. Swirl the contents of the flask and add
one drop of acid, FA 2, at a time from the burette until the indicator just changes colour. Record this
volume. This should represent the exact volume you need to add to neutralize 25.0cm3 of 0.100mol
dm-3 of sodium hydroxide, FA 1.
9. To ensure that you have a reliable volume of FA 2, you should repeat the whole titration again until
you get two readings that agree within 0.10cm3.
Rough 1 2 3 4

Final burette reading / cm3

Initial burette reading / cm3

Volume of FA 2 added / cm3 OR

From your accurate titration results, obtain a suitable value for the volume of FA 2 to be used in your
calculations. Show clearly how you obtained this value.

25.0cm3 of FA 1 required ....................... cm3 of FA 2.

ol N
ge
Questions
(a) How many moles of NaOH, FA 1, were present in 25.0cm3 solution?

C I A
le
ar N
(b) How many moles of HCl, FA 2, were present in the volume of acid you used to neutralize the NaOH,
FA 1, solution?
ed AS

(c) What was the exact concentration of hydrochloric acid, FA 2, in moldm-3?

(d) Why was the conical flask placed on a piece of white tile?
M

(e) Why were the pipette and burette washed with the solutions they were going to contain?

(f) Why was the conical flask not washed with the alkali solution it was going to contain?

(g) Explain why it does not matter if there is water already in the flask.

(h) Explain why a conical flask was used and not a beaker.