Question: How do acids and bases interact in solution?

Student Exploration: Titration

Vocabulary: acid, analyte, base, dissociate, equivalence point, indicator, litmus paper, molarity, neutralize, pH, strong acid, strong base, titrant, titration, titration curve, weak acid, weak base

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

There are several definitions of acids and bases. According to the Brønsted-Lowry definition, an acid is a substance that is capable of donating a proton to another substance. A base is a substance that accepts protons. When an acid and a base are combined, the acid is neutralized as the base accepts the protons produced by the acid.

One way to determine if a solution is acidic or basic is to use litmus paper, as shown above. There are two types of litmus papers: red and blue.

How does litmus paper indicate an acid? 

How does litmus paper indicate a neutral substance? 

How does litmus paper indicate a base? 

Gizmo Warm-up

Litmus is an example of an indicator, a substance that changes color depending on its pH(pH is a measure of the concentration of protons, or H+ ions). In the Titration Gizmo™, you will use indicators to show how acids are neutralized by bases, and vice versa.

To begin, check that 1.00 M NaOH is selected for the Burette, Mystery HBr is selected for theFlask, and Bromthymol blue is selected for the Indicator.

1. Look at the flask. What is the color of the bromthymol blue indicator?

2.What does this tell you about the pH of the solution in the flask? 

3.Move the slider on the burette to the top to add about 25 mL of NaOH to the flask. What happens, and what does this tell you about the pH of the flask?  

Introduction: When most acids dissolve in water, they dissociate into ions. For example, nitric acid (HNO3) dissociates into H+ and NO3– ions.

Question: How do acids and bases interact in solution?

1.Calculate: Concentration is measured by molarity (M), or moles per liter. Brackets are also used to symbolize molarity. For example, if 0.6 moles of HNO3 are dissolved in a liter of water, you would say [HNO3] = 0.6 M.

A. Because HNO3 is a strong acid, it dissociates almost completely in water. That means the concentration of H+ is very nearly equal to that of HNO3. What is [H+] if [HNO3] is 0.01 M?

B. The pH of a solution is equal to the negative log of H+ concentration: pH = –log[H+] What is the pH of this solution? (Use the “log” button on your calculator.)

C.What is the pH of a 0.6 M HNO3 solution

2.Describe: The equation for the reaction of nitric acid (HNO3) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is shown on the bottom right of the Gizmo

A.What are the reactants in this reaction

B.What are the products of this reaction

3.Measure: A titration can be used to determine the concentration of an acid or base by measuring the amount of a solution with a known concentration, called the titrant, that reacts completely with a solution of unknown concentration, called the analyte. The point at which this occurs is called the equivalence point.

Carefully add HNO3 into the flask until the phenolphthalein begins to lose its color. Stop adding HNO3 when the color change is permanent.

A.How much (HNO3) was required to cause the indicator to change color? 

B.What can you say about the pH before and after the last drop of HNO3 was added?

4.Explore: Click Reset and change the indicator to Bromthymol blue. Add exactly 8.9 mL of HNO3 to the flask.

A.What does the color of the indicator tell you about the current pH of the flask?

B.Add one more drop of HNO3. What does the color tell you about the pH now?

C.If you combine the results of this question with the results from question 3B, what do you know about the total pH change caused by adding the last 0.1 mL of HNO3?

5.Apply: Water has a pH of 7. If 0.1 mL (about one drop) of 1.0 M HNO3 is added to 100 mL of water, the result is a solution with a concentration of 0.001 M HNO3. 

A.What is the pH of 0.001 M HNO3?

B.How much did one drop of HNO3 cause the pH of water to change? 

C.How does this relate to what you determined in question 4C? 

6.Explain: A titration curve is a graph of pH vs. volume of titrant. The graph at right shows a typical titration curve for the titration of a strong acid by a strong base. (A strong base is one that has relatively high dissociation in water.)

A.How would you describe the shape of the titration curve

B.Why do you think the titration curve has the shape it has? 

Introduction: Adding a drop of strong acid or base into a neutralized solution is similar to adding a drop of strong acid or base to water—it causes an abrupt change in pH. By using an appropriate indicator, a chemist can tell when a solution is neutralized by monitoring its color.

Question: How is titration used to determine an unknown concentration?

1. Measure: Titrate the sulfuric acid analyte (H2SO4) with the sodium hydroxide titrant (NaOH). How much 1.00 M NaOH is needed to neutralize the H2SO4 solution

2. Interpret: The balanced equation for the reaction of HBr and NaOH is given at bottom right. Based on this equation, how many moles of NaOH react with 1 mole of H2SO4

3. Manipulate: Recall that molarity is equal to the number of moles of a substance dissolved in one liter of solution: molarity = moles ÷ volume.

A. Write an equation for determining the number of moles of NaOH that are added to the flask based on [NaOH] and volume of NaOH titrant (mL NaOH):

B.Write a similar expression for the number of moles of H2SO4 in the flask based on [H2SO4] and the volume of H2SO4 (mL). 

C.Because there are twice as many moles of NaOH as moles of H2SO4 in this reaction, you can say:

D.Now you can calculate [H2SO4] based on the data from the Gizmo: [H2SO4]

4. Calculate: Select the Worksheet tab. This tab helps you calculate the analyte concentration. • Fill in the first set of boxes (“moles H2SO4” and “moles NaOH”) based on the coefficients in the balanced equation. (If there is no coefficient, the value is 1.) • Record the appropriate volumes in the “mL NaOH” and “mL H2SO4” boxes. • Record the concentration of the titrant in the M NaOH box.

Click Calculate. What is the concentration listed?

Click Check. Is this the correct concentration?

If you get an error message, revise your work until you get a correct value. (You may have to redo the titration if you do not have the correct volume of titrant.)

5.Practice: Perform the following titrations and determine the concentrations of the following solutions. In each experiment, list the volume of titrant needed to neutralize the analyte and the indicator used. Use the Worksheet tab of the Gizmo to calculate each analyte concentration. Include all units.

6.Apply: Once you know the concentration of a strong acid or a strong base, you can estimate its pH. Use pH = –log10[H+] to calculate the pH of each of the strong acid mystery solutions (Mystery HBr and Mystery H2SO4) based on the concentrations you determined in questions 4 and 5. Check your answers with the Gizmo. (Because dissociation is not always complete, your answers may vary slightly from values in the Gizmo.)

7.Apply: For a strong base, the concentration of hydroxide ions [OH–] is roughly estimated to be the same as the concentration of the base. The pH of a strong base is found with the equation pH = 14 + log10[OH–]. Based on their concentrations, find the pH of each of the strong bases. Check your answers with the Gizmo.