Determining Ka by the half-titration of a weak acid Essay

To demoralise the Ka of acetic acid, HC2H3O2 I go forth react it with atomic number 11 hydroxide. The blossom when our reception is half(prenominal)-titrated deal be purposed to determine the pKa. As I have added half as many moles of acetic , as NaOH, therefrom, OH- pass on have reacted with solitary(prenominal) half of the acetic acid expiration a solution with equal moles of HC2H3O2 and C2H3O2-. Then I will practise the Henderson-Hasselblach equation to start up pKa.CH3COOH + NaOH H2O + NaCH3COOResultsBelow is a table that summarizes our results for the reaction of 1M of acetic acid with 1Molar of NaOH which 50cm3 was used. The table shows the PH record at par and at equating. We also recorded the observations we saw during the reaction.PH 0.1Qualitative observationsAt comparability5.0When I recorded this, as we slowly added NaOH to the acid, there was a veer of semblance from colorless to a very slight pink as the Phenolphthalein indicator changed color.At e quivalence8.9As I added the acetic acid to 250 cm3 of reaction mixture, there was no color change. Also as we measured the PH, the PH changed slowly but then changed very chop-chop at the solution approached equivalence. At this time, the indicator turned pink, when equivalence was reached reason the PKaTo calculate PKa, we will use the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation. thereof the calculations below show how victimisation this we basis calculate the PKa= PKa +But at the half equivalence, the concentration of acetic acid and its salt ion atomic number 18 the same. thereof, we get= PKa + = PKaNow the PH was, so PKa= 5.0 0.1 = 5.0 2%5.0 2% == 10-5 2%Titration rationaliseTo get illusion we are going to sketch a titration curve, and from this measure the PH at half equivalence. To do thisPH of acetic acid (1M)Ka = = 10-4.76= (110-4.76)So PH of acetic acid= 2.38Now PH of NaOH, (1M)Now concentration of NaOH, was 1MSo = 1= -log(1) = 00.2%So PH= 140.2% so with these results we sess while thisVolume of NaOH (0.2%)PH of solution (0.2)02.38451448145014We dwell that at volume of NaOH of 45 and 48, the PH will still be 14 as its in excess by far, thus getting to the PH of NaOH as the PH measuredThe PH of the solution has dubiety of 0.2, as this is the smallest persona of our y-axis in our titration sketch.Now after plotting our titration results, we whoremonger see that the equivalence drumhead the volume was at a volume was at 28cm3 as it has the steepest gradient. then, the half-equivalence is at half a volume, 14cm3. At this volume the PH is 4.8 0.2Using this value, as= PKa + = PKaPKa= 4.8 0.24.84.2% == 10-4.8 4.2%ConclusionI have concluded that the of acetic acid is -52% just using the selective in haomaation recorded ( system acting 1). til straightaway from using that data and calculating the pH of acetic acid and NaOH, and then plotting a titration curve ( regularity 2), we got a of 4.80.2%.As I calculated both I kitty calculate the % misplay of bo th comparing it with the actual value, -4.76.1% actus reus of manner acting 1= = light speed 5%% error of manner 2= = 100 0.84%The data I have concluded and summarized above is backed up by the data produced in the experiment and trends seen. We conclude that method 2 is more entire as the % error is less and that our oringal method had 5% error. This is clearly backed up in our %errors as 4.8 is much next to the actual value 4.76. The data that supports our % errors is the graph.It clearly shows a trend that as the volume of NaOH sum upd the PH rose, and the mellower gradient signaling the equivalence point was at 28 cm3. indeed the graph clearly showed a half-equivalence point of 4.8 PH. Also the graph bolster that the PH at half-equivalence had to be less than 6, thus supporting the PH obtained by method 1, and therefrom the PKa obtained. eventually as for method 1, we simply recorded two results we know that the datum that determined our percentage error was 5.0, and hence this data is what supports our %error.Finally the pledge level for my conclusion is good. I got the results expected, as method 2 will always be more accurate than method 1 as the latter depends too much on qualitative and infixed preserves. Thus my trust level for such conclusion is good. Also my confidence levels on the %error and PKa for method 1, is high as 5% error was small. Thus imputable to this low %error, my confidence level of the experiment make for method 1 is high. Even more the PKa obtained by method 2, has a higher confidence level as the % error was barely 0.84%. Thus method 2, has excellent confident level for its extremely low %error.However the first factor that affects my confidence level is uncertainties. From the %error of PH, we got the % hesitation of the PKa for method 1. Thus, we know, that from the bring % error of 5%, 2% was do by arrogant errors i.e uncertainties in this case. Thus the opposite 3% was caused by haphazard error.Similarly, for method 2, we got % uncertainties for the PH by the volume measure of NaOH. This %error was 4.2%, meaning 4.2% of the good error was caused by systematic error of the graph. Clearly this is bigger than the total %error of 0.84%. Thus this means that actually, even if our graph has on the y-axis an uncertainty of 0.4, this is an over-estimate. This is since, while we can read a value off with this uncertainty, it can still be very close to the actual half-equivalence PH.Thus this increases my confidence level, as it shows, that the systematic error of the graph y-axis uncertainty is very limited. Thus the biggest error is haphazard error. This occurs when estimating the equivalence point from the titration graph, which is stochastic error as its an estimate of the steepest point and hence has no uncertainty. Thus as we could underestimate or overestimate this value, it creates error, as we calculated the half equivalence from it. In this case, clearly we overestimated it as th e PKa from this method is higher than the actual one. hence this error is directly reflected in our results limiting confidence levels.Thus now we know what caused the % error for our methods. wherefore, now my confidence level will increase as I know what type of error must be targeted to reduce most error. The haphazard errors and systematic errors that constitute these percentages will be explained below, in the evaluation.EvaluationFrom the results it is clear error was limited for method 1, 5%. We calculated that uncertainties make up at least 2% of that error. Thus systematic error only makes 2% of the error while random error makes 3% of the error.Thus the significant error is random errors. This was due to the subjectiveness at seeing the half-titration points. As we relied on the fact that the phenolphatlein made the solution light pink, it was difficult to see such color change. Thus it was very easy to keep adding base, when there was already a color change. thereof our error was that we could overshoot the titration. As we added to much NaOH the color change seen was too much. So when we added the acetic acid, the PH at half-equivalence is higher so we overestimated the PKa. This was reflected directly on our results. Finally another less important random error was that pipettes leaked. Thus more NaOH was added. This while small also explains why we overestimated the PKa, as we overshooted the titration even more.Finally our less significant errors were systematic error. They only make 2% of our errors. They were mainly caused by inaccuracy of our apparatus. The main systematic error caused was by the PH probe. The PH probe, first of all has great inaccuracy recording PH with a 0.1 uncertainty. Thus as the PH recorded was small, the %uncertainty calculated is much bigger than it would be with a higher PH. The other uncertainty was caused by the inaccuracy of pipettes. When we measured the volume of the acetic acid, there was a systematic error as Burets have uncertainties of, 0.10 cm3. Thus at a volume we measured of acetic acid at 25cm3, we had 0.4% error caused.We can also analyze improvements for method 2. We used this method and generated it from data we had form method 1. However, the titration sketch clearly was much more accurate than method 1, as it yields 0.84% error of which 0.2% was caused by uncertainties. Thus as we got the results for the titration curve from method 1, the error that caused the systematic errors were the same. However the main cause of error is the random error. At calculating the equivalence point, we had to estimate the point with the maximum gradient. As this is subjective, there is human error. Hence, when we then halved that volume, we could overestimate or underestimate the error since we estimated the point with maximum gradient.ImprovementsTo reduce the random error firstly we must do more trials. Just by doing this, we will reduce the random error. Finally as the occupation with th e color change was that it was a qualitative observation. To improve this we can get a quantitative measurement. To do this we use a colorimeter. This is a device we will put behind the solution. This measures the take in absorbance or transmission of light. Thus as the light absorbance changes when there is a color change, when the colorimeter states such we know that the color change has occurred. Hence we know exactly the equivalence points. The implication of this improvement is that it would enable us to get qualitative results. Thus if the colorimeter very accurate we can decrease random error, as there is no human error. Also, as the colorimeter is accurate, systematic error will also be limited. some other way we can improve is in the systematic errors. The first problem was measuring accurately volumes. As the pipettes had big uncertainties, the volume recorded had high %uncertainties. If we however use micropipettes, which have 0.01 cm3 uncertainties, our volumes will be extremely accurate. Hence %uncertainties will be minimal. Also micropipettes grant much easier for drops of base to be dropped. Thus the significance of this improvement is that when we measure volumes, the equivalence point will occur, more exactly as we will be less presumable to overshoot the solution.Finally to solve the inaccurate measurements of PH we can get a PH sensor and data logger. These do real-time measurements and will state the PH with less uncertainty. It will also provide an ersatz method for calculating the half-point. As the data logger draws the graph of the titration done, it can calculate the point with the highest gradient. Thus this will be the equivalence point. Hence we can calculate the PH at half the equivalence point of the graph as this is half the volume of base at equivalence. Thus clearly calculating a very accurate PH from the curve. The significance of this will be that it is a major improvement on method 2 and 1 as it is not qualitative. Thus it does not allow for human error. Hence as the sensor is also very accurate systematic error will also be limited as well as random error. Thus this method will get a very accurate PKa with low systematic and random errors.