MAKING SALTS

Experiment: Sodium chloride preparation using a titration technique

Aim: To understand the concept of titration technique while preparing a soluble salt
starting with an alkali.

Background: It is dangerous to add sodium metal to an acid. So to make sodium salts, start with
sodium hydroxide. You can make sodium chloride with the following chemical reaction:
NaOH (aq)+ HCl( aq)→NaCl (aq)+ H 2 O(l)
Both reactants are soluble and no gas is given off. To be able to know when the reaction is
complete, you can use a titration.
In a titration, one reactant is slowly added to the other in the presence of an indicator. The
indicator changes colour when the reaction is complete so you know how much reactant is needed
for a complete reaction.

Procedure:
You will use phenolphtalein as the indicator for this titration.
1. Put 25 cm3 of sodium hydroxide solution into a flask, using a measuring cylinder.
2. Add two drops of phenolphtalein into the flask.
3. Fill up a burette with hydrochloric acid and adjust the 0.
4. Add the acid from the burette just little at a time. Swirl the flask carefully to help the acid
and alkali mix.
5. As soon as the indicator turns colourless stop adding the acid, all the alkali has been used
up and the solution is now neutral.
6. Read the exact volume of acid added from the burette.
7. To avoid any impurities due to the presence of the indicator, you could repeat the titration
without the indicator.
8. Heat the solution from the flask to evaporate the water. White crystals of sodium chloride
will be left behind.