Mahidol University International Demonstration School

CHEMISTRY
TITRATION LAB
By:
Teeradej Lo (Bas) 1102
Panupatr Limprasert (James) 1102
Nattapoom Dumronglaohapun (Poom) 1101
Bhumrapee Soonjun (Bhum) 1101
Present:
Dr. Patraphorn Sanguansat
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract 3
Introduction 4
Objective 6
Procedure 7
Experiment 8
Result 9
Discussion 11
Suggestion/Error 14
Conclusion 15
Pre Lab Question 16
Post Lab Question 17
References 19
Work Log 20
ABSTRACT
This experiment aim to educate students about chemical reaction of acid and
base, concentration, titration and neutralization from the details and information
that we had learn in class. Another purpose of the experiment is to improve
students’ laboratory and experiment skills. We study using the neutralization of
NaOH and HCl. Equation : HCl + NaOH = NaCl + H2O.
        We start the experiment by pouring 100 mL of NaOH solution in clean
beaker, then transfer some to clean buret up to 0.00 mL mark. Next we draw 10 mL
of HCl into Erlenmeyer flask. Then add 2-3 drops of phenolphthalein indicator to the
flask. We start dropping NaOH slowly until the color of solution in Erlenmeyer flask
change its color to light pink. We recorded the amount of NaOH used and repeat the
experiment. After repeat, we conduct the experiment 2 more times, this time, we
use bromophenol blue instead of phenolphthalein and we look for light green color
instead of light pink.
        In the end of the experiment, after calculation, we use an average of
0.04872 M of Acid in phenolphthalein experiment and about 0.0504 M in
Bromophenol Blue experiment. The result value have very small different, which
mean there is some errors in the experiment, because bromophenol change color
when pH value is about 4.4, and phenolphthalein change its color when pH is 8-9.
The difference in 2 indicator is too great to have very similar amount of acid.

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INTRODUCTION
Titration is one of the most common techniques – in the laboratory – that the
solution with known concentration is used to indicate the concentration of unknown
solution (Gregersen, 2019). In titration, the solution with the known concentration
and properties is known as a titrant, while the solution with unknown concentration
is – usually – called as analyte, titrand, or sample. In fact, although the sample’s
concentration can leave to be unknown, it is necessary to known the general idea of
what the sample solution is in order to do the titration – finding out the unknown
concentration of sample. In general titration experiment, the titrant will be slowly
added to the sample with known volume until the particular results appear, whether
it is color change, pH change, or precipitation – the forming of insoluble solid from a
solution. There are four main types of the titration including precipitation titrations,
complexometric titrations, redox titrations, and acid-base titrations (Painter, 2018).
In precipitation titration, the titrant is added until the precipitate formed. For the
complexometric titration, it is similar to the precipitation titration, but it is involved
with a metal-ligand complexation reaction. Next is redox titration which is the
titration that depends on gaining and losing of electron within a sample, and, in this
type, the titrant will either be oxidizing agent or reducing agent. Lastly, the acid-
base titration – the titration used in our experiment – is the titration in which the
titrant is added until there is a change of pH to a certain pH level, in other words,
reacting acid and base together while using indicator to detect an end point and
finally use the data to calculate the concentration of the sample. In acid-base
titration, an indicator has played an important role in order to keep track of the pH
change. The indicator is a substance – weak base or weak acid – used to show the
pH level by the change of its color as the indicator will turn its color to a specified
color if the pH reaches a certain point. Choosing the right indicator is also an
essential thing in titration. Normally, the indicator that is used in the titration
experiment should change its color as close as the equivalence point – the point
where there are equal moles of titrant and moles of sample. Despite the fact that
the number of titrant’s mole and the number of sample’s mole are equal, the pH
that this point will not always be 7 as it depends on the strength of acid and base
used in the titration

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INTRODUCTION
If it is the titration between the strong acid and strong base, the pH at the
equivalence point will equal to 7 undoubtedly. On the other hand, if it is the titration
between strong acid and weak base or between strong base and weak acid, the pH at
equivalence point will be less and greater than 7 respectively (Barnes & Noble,
2019). In our titration lab, it is the titration between hydrochloric acid (HCl) and
sodium hydroxide (NaOH) which are strong acid and strong base. There are however
two indicators that are used in this lab including Phenolphthalein and Bromophenol
blue. Phenolphthalein (C20H14O4) is an indicator that turns its color in the pH range
of 8.2 to 10. This is because Phenolphthalein is a colorless weak color which will
form the pink anions as it dissociates in water. With this property of
Phenolphthalein, its equilibrium will shift to left – under the acidic condition – so
that the pink anions are very less for observing; however, its equilibrium will shift to
right – under the basic condition – so that the pink anions are enough for observing.
Another indicator is Bromophenol blue (C19H10Br4O5S). The Bromophenol blue turn
its change in the pH range of – yellow at – 3 to – blue at – 4.6. All in all, the
indicator will be added to the sample in the conical flask, while the titrant is placed
in burette waiting to be released into the sample’s conical flask.

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OBJECTIVE
As we are studying about the lesson of acid and base which covers neutralization,
concentration, pH and pOH in the chemical reaction of acid and base, this experiment
– the experiment of titration – was conducted for us to learn and understand clearly
about the topics. In this lab, it requires the knowledge that we study in class to
really apply in the real experiment, which would make us understand more of the
concept and the process of calculation. Moreover, this is not only the experiment,
but also it is the real situation where we can utilize our knowledge in order to find
out the unknown concentration of the sample. With this lab, we have to think and
use the real number from the experiment, not just plug in the number from the
given questions like the exercise in the class.  
Another objective of this experiment is for us to practice our laboratory and
experimenting skills. Working in the laboratory, we need to follow exactly what the
instructions told us to do and properly use the lab equipment as we are handling
chemical substances that may be dangerous and cause harm, especially they are
strong acid and strong base. Hence, this experiment would be another experiment
that would help us to practice and get use to the experiment so that we could
finally diminish our errors.

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PROCEDURE

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EXPERIMENT
Chemicals
- HCl
- NaOH
Indicators
- Phenolphthalein
- Bromophenol Blue
Glasswares
- Erlenmeyer Flask
- Beaker
- Funnel
- Burette
- Volumetric Pipette

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RESULT
Concentration of sodium hydroxide: 0.048 M
Chemical Equation: NaOH + HCl → NaCl + H2O

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RESULT

This is a picture of titrated solution. The indicator used for this experiment in this
conical flask is Bromophenol Blue.  As can be seen, the end of titration for
Bromophenol Blue is colored light purplish-bluish. Our solution is very light blue in
color, however it appeared to be clear on camera.

This is our another titrated solution. The indicator used in this experiment is called
Phenolphthalein. Phenolphthalein will turn light pink when it reaches the end point,
which is around 8-9 on PH scale. The first picture is our result.  The letter appeared
on the conical flash is B indicating Bromophenol Blue, however we ran out of conical
flash, therefore we wash the one from the last experiment and reused it. In the
second picture we can see our compared to the other sample. The left one is the
over titrated one, the color will appear as dark pink. The middle one is the one that
we want. The color suggest that the titration is completed and that it is not over
titrated. Our is on the right.

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DISCUSSION
In this lab we In this lab, we did a titration experiment. We use strong acid and base
solution in the titration process. For acid, we used HCL, or Hydrochloric acid, as the
solution on the bottom, so it is being titrated. Hence, we don’t know the acid
concentration. Therefore, by doing titration we can find out its PH values and, hence,
its hydronium concentrations. We use base solution as the titration base, therefore it
will be in the Burette – the experimental equipment where we use it to drop the
solution inside of it. The acid will be situated in the Erlenmeyer flask, also known as
the conical flask. The base of this solution that we will use it NaOH, also known as
Sodium Hydroxide. The initial concentration of the hydroxide ions of the base
solution is 0.048M. Because we know the initial molarity of the base solution we can
find out the PH or the concentration of the acid later on by calculating the mole
ratio, and by using the indicators. The indicator will tell us when is the end point of
the titration. When the color changes, we know that the titration has finished, hence,
we will know the PH, because each indicator changes color at a specific range.
Therefore, when it change color we can find out it PH by comparing the color to then
PH scale of that indicator. With this given characteristic, we will drop some of it into
the acid solution that located under the burette in the conical flask. Because, we can
see the change of color slowly, as it approach the end point of the titration. Putting
the indicator inside the burette would be absurd, since not all of it will be in the
combined solution, hence it concentration will be diluted.

From the experiment, we used two indicators. The first one is Phenolphthalein and
the second, is Bromophenol Blue. The result goes as follow, for Phenolphthalein we
used around 10.22 ml of bases to complete the titration. Therefore, with the given
amount of base molarity we can work out the acid concentration as follow.

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DISCUSSION
First find mole of NaOH, C=n/v
Therefore, 0.048 = n/0.01022
-4
Hence, n = 4.9056 x 10 mol
The form the equation of neutralization we have,
HCl + NaOH → NaCL+ H2O
Because strong acid and base dissociate completely, we don’t have to have concerns
about leftover reactant
From the equation we can find out the the mole ratio of HCL and NaOH is one.
Therefore,1:1
Hence, 4.9056 x 10-4  mol : 4.9056 x 10-4 mol
Because we know the mole of the sued acid in the reaction , we can work out the
initial concentration of the acid solution by using the following formula.
C=n/v, C= 4.9056 x 10-4/0.01
Hence,acid concentration is equal to 0.049056
With this we can also work out the pH value by -log (0.049056), which is around
3.014
In the second round of the experiment we used Bromophenol instead of
Phenolphthalein. The result goes as follows, we used 10.6 ml of base, therefore we
can also use it to calculate back the pH. We can condense the formula in one simple
line as this,
C-base x V-base x 1/V-acid
(0.048 x 0.0106)/0.01  ≈ 0.05088
-log (0.05088) ≈ 2.978.

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DISCUSSION
However, our result is truly absurd and must be untrue for any every given
circumstance but one, that is the indicator used in the reaction is Bromothymol Blue.
However, let’s discuss about scenario one first, which is the indicator is Bromophenol
Blue. As can be seen, Phenolphthalein changes color when the PH reaches around 8
or 9, and that Bromophenol changes color when the PH reaches 4.4. This suggest
that our result is wrong, because push the PH up to 8 or 9 we have to use way
greater base volume than to push the PH to 4.4 from unknown PH, but our according
to our result, the different in volume is only different in 0.4 margin. Which is
impossible. Furthermore, we use more base to titrate the acid solution to 4.4 than
we use base to titrate the solution that’s contain Phenolphthalein. Therefore, our
result can not be true in this given scenario, therefore we must measure the volume
of base that we used wrong, or the base concentration is not the same for the
Bromophenol round.  In the second, scenario the indicator is Bromothymol blue
instead of Bromophenol Blue. We think this because that the Ph of the solution will
changes at 7 instead of 4.4 if we use Bromothymol Blue. Hence, the little difference
in base volume can be explained, since at 7 the titration curve slope it very steep,
hence a drop can change a lot of PH, therefore this will resolve our problem,
however, as it turned out, the indicator used is actually Bromophenol Blue therefore,
it must be the first case. However, even with Bromophenol Blue, the calculation will
be off. This will happen due to the Ph change at 4.4 therefore there will be 2.6 acid
concentration left at the end point of the titration, therefore we cannot assume that
the reaction is completely neutralized, hence we cannot say that the mole ratio is
1:1.

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SUGGESTION/ERROR
After done this experiment, we have suggestions which could improve the
quality, accuracy, and precision of this project. First, this experiment need patient
-4
and time when conducting, because any missed drop of NaOH from the buret could
change the color of the result. If the color of the acid solution in the Erlenmeyer
flask change to complete pink, we have to redo the experiment. We would suggest
to have about 90 minutes of experimenting time to get the correct and accurate
result if possible. You could also split the experiment in half and continue it later.
Next, to make sure you get the rightful result, we could use pH meter or other
indicators to confirm the pH value of the acid solution. Also, we can also use that
information to find further error in the process of experimenting.
Lastly, the error with concentration could be a huge problem; we should make
sure that there are no water droplets left in the flask after cleaning. We want the
color of acid solution to change to green in bromophenol blue experiment, which the
pH need to be around 4.4. The pH of water is averagely around 7. This mean extra
amount of water could have impact on the result. Thus, we should make sure all or
most of unneeded substance is not containing in the glasswares or equipments.

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CONCLUSION
In this lab report, we have discussed about the titration in order for us to
understand about the neutralization, acidic solution, basic solution, mole ration,
-4
concentration, indicator, pH and pOH in the chemical reaction between acid and base
so that we would be able to find out the unknown concentration of the sample
solution from the known concentration of the known solution – titrant. We have
achieved the objective of this experiment as we were able to determine the
concentration of the sample solution from knowing the volume of titrant added, the
concentration of titrant, and the volume of sample. However, our results might not
be correct as the concentrations that we calculated are not equal. The average acid
concentration that we get from the titration with Phenolphthalein is 0.04872 M,
while the concentration that we get from the one with Bromophenol blue is 0.0504
M. Indeed, the number of errors is only 0.00168 M in difference. This difference
might come from the fact that there might be some errors and parallax during the
experiment as there was a limited time, whether it is the human errors or any other
errors.

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PRE LAB QUESTION
Q1: How will you know when your titration is finished?
When the indicator start to change color, reaching its end point.

Q2: Label the pH scale below with acid, base, and neutral, indicating
numbers for each.

pH scale
0 ACID 7 BASE 14

EQUIVALENCE POINT
NEUTRAL
Q3: On the scale above, use an arrow to show where your equivalence point
is located.

Q4: Write the neutralization reaction that occurs between hydrobromic acid
(HBr) and lithium hydroxide (LiOH).
HBr + LiOH → LiBr + H2O

Q5: What is the concentration of 10.00 mL of HBr if it takes 16.73 mL of a

0.253 M LiOH solution to neutralize it?

HBr + LiOH → LiBr + H2O

lithium hydroxide mole = 0.01673 x 0.253 = 0.00423269
Mole ratio (HBr : LiOH)= 1:1
hydrobromic acid mole = 0.00423269
Molarity (Concentration) of hydrobromic acid = 0.00423269/0.01 = 0.423269 M

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POST LAB QUESTION
Q1: How would it affect your results if you used a beaker with residual water
in it to measure out your standardized sodium hydroxide solution?

The molarity of the sodium hydroxide will change due to the addition volume of the
water causing it to be diluted. Thus, we will need to use more amount of sodium
hydroxide to titrate the acid. In this lab, we already have the molarity of the sodium
hydroxide and we use it to calculate the amount of mole we use to titrate the
hydrochloric acid. If the molarity of the sodium hydroxide changes but we still use
the previous molarity, it will affect the molarity of the hydrochloric acid that we are
trying to predict because we are using the wrong amount of mole in the mole ratio
between the acid and the base. In this case, the molarity of the acid will be greater
than it should be.

Q2: How would it affect your results if you used a wet Erlenmeyer flask
instead of a dry one when transferring your acid solution from the
volumetric pipette?

This will have similar effect with the previous question. Since the water will diluted
the acid solution, we will require less amount of sodium hydroxide to titrate it. Other
errors that we can get is that we will use the wrong amount of the acid solution
volume to calculate it molarity. In this case, the molarity of the acid will be lower
than it should be.

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POST LAB QUESTION
Q3: How do you tell if you have exceeded the equivalence point in your
titration?
Equivalence point, for our experiment, is when the pH of the solution is 7. Each
indicator has different color range for different value of pH. In this lab we are using
phenolphthalein and bromophenol blue. Phenolphthalein is colorless when the pH of
the solution is less than 8; beyond 8 it will turn to pink. For phenolphthalein we
should make it to have a light pink color. If it turns to saturated pink it means that
it is over titrated or exceeding the equivalence point. For bromophenol blue, it
appears to be yellow in acid until the pH reaches 4 that it will turn to green and
turn to blue when the pH is beyond 4.3. The desired color for bromophenol blue is
blue color. We can’t really tell from bromophenol blue when it exceeds equivalence
point.

Q4: Vinegar is a solution of acetic acid (CH3COOH) in water. For quality

control purposes, it can be titrated using sodium hydroxide to assure a
specific % composition. If 25.00 mL of acetic acid is titrated with 9.08 mL of a
standardized 2.293 M sodium hydroxide solution, what is the molarity of the
vinegar?

CH3COOH + NaOH → CH3COONa + H20

Sodium hydroxide mole = 2.293 x 0.00908 = 0.02082044 mol
Mole ratio (CH3COOH : NaOH) = 1:1
Acetic acid mole = 0.02082044
Molarity of acetic acid (Vinegar) = 0.02082044/0.025 = 0.833 M

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REFERENCES
Acid-base titration curves. (n.d.). Retrieved from khanacdemy:
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/chemical-
processes/titrations-and-solubility-equilibria/a/acid-base-titration-curves
Acid - Base Indicators and Titrations. (n.d.). Retrieved from:
http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/vchemlib/course/indi/
Painter, T. (2018, April 30). Types of Titration. Retrieved from sciencing:
https://sciencing.com/types-titration-14630.html
Is it possible for the equivalence point of a titration to not be at pH 7? (2017).
Retrieved from socratic: https://socratic.org/questions/is-it-possible-for-
the-equivalence-point-of-a-titration-to-not-be-at-ph-7
Tissue, B. M. (2019). Acid-Base Titrations. Retrieved from tissuegroup:
https://www.tissuegroup.chem.vt.edu/chem-ed/titration/acid-base-
titration.html
pH curves. (2013). Retrieved from chemguide:
https://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/acidbaseeqia/phcurves.html
Titration. (2016). Retrieved from chemistry libretexts:
https://chem.libretexts.org/Ancillary_Materials/Demos%2C_
Techniques%2C_and_Experiments/General_Lab_Techniques/Titration
Barnes and Noble. (2019). Acid-Base Titrations. Retrieved from sparknotes:
https://www.sparknotes.com/chemistry/acidsbases/titrations/section1/
Gregerson, E. (2019).  Titration. Retrieved from britannica:
https://www.britannica.com/science/titration

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WORKLOG

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