Molecular Weight of an Unknown Acid I. Abstract 1.

The goal of this experiment is to titrate an unknown acid with a known base to find the molecular weight of the unknown acid using the idea of equivalence point, which is when the moles of acid is equal to the moles of base. The average molecular weight calculated was 72.7g/mol based on our three trials. II. Introduction 1. The experiment is to try to determine the molecular weight of an unknown acid by titrating it against NaOH, a base of known concentration. This is an acid-base titration study. The goal of the titration has been reached when the clear solution within the flask permanently changes color indicating that equivalence point, where the moles of acid and the moles of base are equal, has been reached. From there, the unknown moles of acid are determined. With the given knowledge of the 1 to 1 ratio between the moles of acid and base one determines the molecular weight of the acid. III. Procedure 1. Chemicals and Instrumentation i. NaOH solution, phenolphthalein, unknown acid ii. Goggles, lab coat, buret, pipet, buret stand, clamps, beakers, plastic wash bottle, stirring rod, pipet filler bulbs, graduated cylinder, distilled water. 2. The Steps of the Experiment i. Take out plastic bottle of NaOH solution used in previous experiment, the first titration lab. ii. Rinse buret several times with small amounts of NaOH solution (no more than 5 mL). iii. Fill your buret at least to the 40 mL mark with NaOH solution. Read and record the initial buret reading on the raw data sheet. iv. Rinse beaker with distilled water. v. Weigh no more than 0.25 grams of the unknown acid using a high precision analytical balance. Record the amount on the raw data sheet, and then transfer it to the beaker. vi. Add between 50 to 75 mL of distilled water into the beaker and swirl until the unknown acid noticeably dissolves. Add two drops of phenolphthalein to the solution. vii. Slowly run the NaOH solution from the buret into the beaker while swirling the beaker slowly. The end point is reached at the first permanent change in color from clear to pink. viii. Read the final buret reading and record it on the raw data sheet. ix. Repeat the titration two more times. IV. Results 1. Look at the raw data sheet (last page). V. Discussion (based on the given questions) The average number of moles of NaOH used in this titration was 0.00335 moles. The average number of moles of the unknown acid sample that reacted with the NaOH was also 0.00335 moles. The number of moles of the acid and base are because the reactants are in a one-to-

one stoichiometric ratio. The goal of this experiment was to find the molecular weight of the unknown acid. The average molecular weight of the unknown acid was 72.7 g/mol, and the unknown number was 228. The results were very close to each other, because we did the same thing each time, but I do not think they are close to the actual value of our acid because we titrated with NaOH solution too quickly and missed the true equivalence point.

Results: Moles of NaOH used Run #1: 0.00337 mol Number of moles of Unknown Acid used Run #1: 0.00337 mol Molecular Weight of Unknown Acid Run #1: 72.4 g/mol Avg. Molecular Weight of the Unknown Acid 72.7 g/mol Run #2: 0.00334 mol Run #3: 0.00333 mol

Run #2: 0.00334 mol

Run #3: 0.00333 mol

Run #2: 72.7 g/mol

Run #3: 73.0 g/mol