Phenolphthalein Analysis Lab Report

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The concentration of the unknown HCl solution was found to be .102 M, and the concentration of the unknown acetic acid was found to be .053 M. As shown in Graph 2, the equivalence point volume can be shown by the maximum slope, and this volume was found to be 25.49 mL; the equivalence point volume of acetic acid was found to be 13.89 mL. The equivalence point volume was found by using the first derivative plot and looking at the highest slope. Phenolphthalein would be a good indicator for giving a reliable determination of the equivalence point. In the forward reaction of the HCl + NaOH and acetic acid + NaOH, the phenolphthalein clearly changed color from fairly clear to a pinkish color once the solution started becoming more basic. If an unknown weak ammonia solution was titrated with the strong acid HCl, then the phenolphthalein would not be an ideal indicator to use because the color change for the reaction between the weak ammonia (weak base) and HCl (strong acid) should occur at the likely equivalence point between 4 and 6; phenolphthalein changes color at the pH range of 8-10, so it would not be ideal use phenolphthalein because it does not have a color change at a pH range near the equivalence point pH of the weak base (ammonia) and strong acid (HCl). …show more content…

As shown by Graph 1, the equivalence pH appears to be around 7, and this makes sense since the reaction between the strong acid HCl and the strong base NaOH is simply a direct neutralization reaction since both will strongly dissociate and react with each other. This is further shown by the fact that almost twice as much NaOH had to be used to get to the equivalence point to neutralize the strong HCl than when compared to the amount of NaOH that had to be used to reach the equivalence point with acetic

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