Honors Chemistry I Titration Lab Calculations

Remember that in Chapter 19, Part 2, we learned about acid-base neutralization:

Acid + Base Æ Salt + Water

e.g.
HCl + NaOH Æ NaCl + H2O

When you titrate HCl with NaOH, they react with 1:1 stoichiometry (a 1:1 mole ratio)

Moles acid = Moles base

(Molarity x Volume)acid = (Molarity x Volume)base

So, for example, from the data for a titration, we can calculate the molarity of the base if we know the molarity and
volume of the acid and the volume of the base. Remember the product of molarity and volume is equal to moles of
acid.

Molarityacid • Volumeacid molesacid

= = Molaritybase
Volumebase Volumebase
Sometimes acids have more than one proton to donate and the reaction they undergo depends on how much base you
add. For diprotic acids, you must add twice as much base to neutralize both protons.

Also, some bases yield more than one mole of OH- ions, like 1 mole of Ca(OH)2 gives 2 moles of OH-, and 1 mole
of Al(OH)3 gives 3 moles of OH-.

Calculating the amount of acid needed to neutralize a given amount of base is made easier if we define a unit
called an equivalent. One equivalent is the amount of acid or base that will give one more of H3O+ or OH- ions.
The equivalent mass is the mass of one equivalent of an acid or base. In this titration experiment you will
determine the equivalent mass of an unknown acid – that is, the number of grams of the acid that will supply
one mole of H3O+ ions.

For example:

1 mole HCl = 1 equivalent HCl

1 mole H2SO4 = 2 equivalents H2SO4
1 mole NaOH = 1 equivalent NaOH
1 mole Ca(OH)2 = 2 equivalents Ca(OH)2

In an titration at the equivalence point:

Equivalents acid = Equivalents base (but moles of acid might not = moles of base)

The only time when moles of acid = moles of base is when the equivalents are equal to one each, such as NaOH and
HCl.

Since we use equivalents instead of moles, we define concentration unit as Normality:

Normality = equivalents of solute / liter of solution

(note that Molarity = Normality for a solution of any acid that supplies 1 mole of protons per mole of acid or any
base that supplies 1 mole of hydroxide ions per mole of base)

So 1.0 M NaOH = 1.0 N NaOH and 1.0 M HCl = 1.0 N HCl

But 1.0 M H2SO4 = 2.0 N H2SO4
Calculations Required for Titration Lab:
1. Moles of KHP (Potassium Hydrogen Phthalate – molar mass = 204.22 grams/mole = 204.22
grams/equivalent). Since molar mass and equivalent mass are the same, then this acid is monoprotic;
meaning that it only gives up one hydrogen and moles = equivalents.

2. Normality of NaOH in your 2-liter bottle (you determined this by titrating the known KHP with your
NaOH solution):

In any titration at the equivalence point:

Equivalents acid = Equivalents base

Normalityacid x Volumeacid = Normalitybase x Volumebase

Equivalentsacid = Normalitybase x Volumebase

Since we know that KHP is monoprotic

Molesacid = Normalitybase x Volumebase

molesacid
= Normalitybase
volumebase
3. Percent Deviation:

Simply take the difference between the consecutive trials divided by the average between the two
consecutive trials.

trial1 − trial2
• 100 = % deviation
Avgtrials

You will need to be confident in your results, therefore you will need to achieve less than 1%
deviation to be able to move on.

4. Equivalent Mass of your unknown acid:

Equivalents acid = Equivalents base

gram unknown acid

= Normalitybase • Lbase
equivalent mass unkown acid

We can rearrange this expression to solve for the equivalent mass of the unknown acid.

( grams unknown acid )

Equivalent mass unknown acid (in grams per equivalent) =
Normalitybase • Litersbase

You will need to do AT LEAST TWO titrations of your unknown to be confident about your results.