Titrations weak acid with strong base

The B.P. method for estimating sodium benzoate is a modification of Henville s method, using bromophenol blue as indicator instead of methyl orange as recommended by him. The former indicator has a range similar to methyl orange and may be used advantageously for titration of strong bases combined with weak acids. 

Discussion. The hydroxides of sodium, potassium, and barium are generally employed for the preparation of solutions of standard alkalis they are water-soluble strong bases. Solutions made from aqueous ammonia are undesirable, because they tend to lose ammonia, especially if the concentration exceeds 0.5M moreover, it is a weak base, and difficulties arise in titrations with weak acids (compare Section 10.15). Sodium hydroxide is most commonly used because of its cheapness. None of these solid hydroxides can be obtained pure, so that a standard solution cannot be prepared by dissolving a known weight in a definite volume of water. Both sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide are extremely hygroscopic a certain amount of alkali carbonate and water are always present. Exact results cannot be obtained in the presence of carbonate with some indicators, and it is therefore necessary to discuss methods for the preparation of carbonate-free alkali solutions. For many purposes sodium hydroxide (which contains 1-2 per cent of sodium carbonate) is sufficiently pure. 

As illustrated in Section 2.1.2, the titration curve of a weak acid with a strong base can be constructed in terms of pH versus volume of the strong base. Consider a weak acid (e.g., HA) of volume Va its concentration Ca is titrated with a strong base (e.g., NaOH) of volume Vb and concentration Cb. The mass balances and electroneutrality equation can be given by ... 

There are a few main types of titrations a strong acid titrated with a strong base (or a strong base titrated with a strong acid) a weak acid titrated with a strong base a weak base titrated with a strong acid and a polyprotic acid titrated with a strong base. Each one of these produces characteristic results and will need to be discussed separately. For the solutions of weak acids and bases, the process is complicated by the common-ion effect. 

Titrating a Weak Acid with a Strong Base For this example let s consider the titration of 50.0 mL of 0.100 M acetic acid, CH3COOH, with 0.100 M NaOH. Again, we start by calculating the volume of NaOH needed to reach the equivalence point thus... 

Consider again the titration of a monoprotic weak acid, ITA, with a strong base. At any point during the titration the weak acid is in equilibrium with 1T30+ and A ... 

A weak acid-strong base titration. The curve represents the titration of 50.00 mL of 1.000 M acetic acid, HC2H3O2. with 1.000 /W NaOH. The solution at the equivalence point is basic (pH = 9.22). Phenolphthalein is a suitable indicator. Methyl red would change color much too early, when only about 33 mL of NaOH had been added. Bromthymol blue would change color slightly too quickly. 

A typical weak acid-strong base titration is that of acetic acid with sodium hydroxide. The net ionic equation for the reaction is... 

The theory of titrations between weak acids and strong bases is dealt with in Section 10.13, and is usually applicable to both monoprotic and polyprotic acids (Section 10.16). But for determinations carried out in aqueous solutions it is not normally possible to differentiate easily between the end points for the individual carboxylic acid groups in diprotic acids, such as succinic acid, as the dissociation constants are too close together. In these cases the end points for titrations with sodium hydroxide correspond to neutralisation of all the acidic groups. As some organic acids can be obtained in very high states of purity, sufficiently sharp end points can be obtained to justify their use as standards, e.g. benzoic acid and succinic acid (Section 10.28). The titration procedure described in this section can be used to determine the relative molecular mass (R.M.M.) of a pure carboxylic acid (if the number of acidic groups is known) or the purity of an acid of known R.M.M. 

In many titrations, one solution—either the analyte or the titrant—contains a weak acid or base and the other solution contains a strong base or acid. For example, if we want to know the concentration of formic acid, the weak acid found in ant venom (1), we can titrate it with sodium hydroxide, a strong base. Alternatively, to find the concentration of ammonia, a weak base, in a soil sample, titrate it with hydrochloric acid, a strong acid. Weak acids are not normally titrated with weak bases, because the stoichiometric point is too difficult to locate. 

When an acid in solution is exactly neutralized with a base the resulting solution corresponds to a solution of the salt of the acid-base pair. This is a situation which frequently arises in analytical procedures and the calculation of the exact pH of such a solution may be of considerable importance. The neutralization point or end point in an acid-base titration is a particular example (Chapter 5). Salts may in all cases be regarded as strong electrolytes so that a salt AB derived from acid AH and base B will dissociate completely in solution. If the acid and base are strong, no further reaction is likely and the solution pH remains unaffected by the salt. However if either or both acid and base are weak a more complex situation will develop. It is convenient to consider three separate cases, (a) weak acid-strong base, (b) strong acid-weak base and (c) weak acid-weak base. 

Figure 4.18 Conductimetric titration curves. As an acid is titrated with an alkali, so the ionic composition of the mixture changes and is reflected in the conductivity of the solution, (a) A strong acid and a strong base, (b) A strong acid and a weak base, (c) A weak acid and a weak base, (d) A weak acid and a strong base.

For the titration of a strong base with a weak acid, the equivalence point is reached when the pH is greater than 7. The half equivalence point is when half of the total amount of base needed to neutralize the acid has been added. It is at this point that the pH = pK of the weak acid. In acid-base titrations, a suitable acid-base indicator is used to detect the endpoint from the change of colour of the indicator used. An acid-base indicator is a weak acid or a weak base. The following table contains the names and the pH range of some commonly used acid-base indicators. 

Titration of Weak Acids with Strong Bases... 

In a solvent with weak acidity, the solvent molecule cannot easily release a proton. Thus, the pH region is wider on the basic side than in water some strong bases, whose strengths are leveled in water, are differentiated some very weak acids, which cannot be determined by neutralization titration in water, can be determined. In contrast, in a solvent with strong acidity, a proton is easily released from the solvent molecule. Thus, the pH region is narrow on the basic side strong bases are easily leveled neutralization titrations of very weak acids are impossible. 

I B I 11-2 Titration of Weak Acid with Strong Base... 

C02 changes the concentration of strong base over a period of time and decreases the extent of reaction near the end point in the titration of weak acids. If solutions are kept in tightly capped polyethylene bottles, they can be used for about a week with little change. 

Titration of weak acid with strong base ... 

O Effect of pKa in the titration of weak acid with strong base. Use Equation 11-9 with a spreadsheet such as the one shown in Figure 11-11 to compute and plot the family of curves at the left side of Figure 11-3. For a strong acid, choose a large A"a, such as Ka = 102 or pKa = -2. 

The results of pH calculations for the titration of 0.100 M CH3C02H with 0.100 M NaOH are plotted in Figure 16.7. Comparison of the titration curves for the weak acid-strong base titration and the strong acid-strong base case shows several significant differences ... 

What Do Buffers Do Students titrate a weak acid with a strong base and observe the pH changes during the titration using a pH meter. Acid rain technology... 

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