Title: Titration

Problem Statement: Tums® once ran a national advertising campaign in which it claimed that its
product “neutralizes one-third more acid than Rolaids®. Suggest a hypothesis for this claim and
design an experiment to test your hypothesis.

Hypothesis: Both Antacids will be titrated against the same concentration of Hydrochloric Acid
and the Antacid that neutralises more of the HCl will be the better Antacid.

Aim: To find out which antacid would neutralize more acid, whether the Tums or Rolaid is better
at neutralization.

Equipment: 50mL Burette

100 mL measuring cylinder
Retort Stand and Clamp
Mortar and Pestle
200 ml Beaker
Stirring rod
Funnel

Material: Tums®
Rolaid®
Deionised Water
2 M Hydrochloric Acid
Phenolphthalein Indicator
Dropper

Diagram: Later.
Method 1. Using a mortar and pestle, crush 6 Tums® pills and place them in a 200 mL
beaker.
2. Using a 150 mL measuring cylinder, measure out 150mL of deionised water and
add it to the beaker with the 5 Tums® pills.
3. Using a stirring rod, stir the water with the pills to ensure that they dissolve.
4. Rinse the burette with 10 mL deionised water and then with 10 mL 2 M
Hydrochloric Acid.
5. Using a Funnel fill the burette a bit of the 50 mark with 2 M HCl and then slowly
open the valve to let the excess drain in to a waste beaker.
6. Using a bulb pipette, measure 25 mL of the Tums solution and it to an
Erlenmeyer Flask.
7. Add 2 drops Phenolphthalein indicator to the Erlenmeyer Flask with the Tums
solution.
8. Place the flask on a white tile below the burette and slowly begin the titration, as
soon as the solution becomes clear stop the titration.
9. Record the volume of HCl used.
10. Consider the first one a rough, repeat steps 6 to 9 three more times.
11. Repeat all the above steps using Rolaids® pills instead of Tums®

Variables: Independent Variable

 The concentration of the base (Antacids)

Dependent Variable
 The volume of Hydrochloric Acid used.

Control Variable
 The amount of Phenolphthalein indicator used.
 The number of pills used to make each solution.
 The concentration of the HCl.
 The volume of water used.
Expected
Results: Table showing the amount of HCl used in each titration with the different Antacids
Antacids A B C D
Tums®
Rolaids®

Sources of
Error: Possible sources of Errors are:
 Parallax error- not taking the correct volume of Hydrochloric Acid used due
to the lack of smaller graduation on the burette
 The reactiveness of the experimenter to stop the titration upon noticing the
colour change of the solution.

Precautions: Some precautions are:

 Glass materials should be carefully handled to prevent them from falling
down and break, this is to prevent harm to the experimenter.
 Gloves should be worn to prevent the HCl from splashing onto the
experimenter’s hand to prevent corrosion.