Discussion

The total alkalinity is defined as the total concentration of bases in water. It is commonly
determined by titrating a water sample with standard sulfuric or hydrochloric acid to neutralize the
bases, and expressing the alkalinity as the calcium carbonate equivalence of the acid required in the
titration (Eaton et al., 2005 as cited in Somridhivej & Boyd, 2016).

To determine the alkalinity of the water samples, the sulfuric acid (H2SO4) must be standardized
first. In doing so, the sulfuric acid solution was titrated with the standard solution of 0.25 M sodium
carbonate (Na2CO3). Three trials were performed and the results showed a concentration of 0.049942,
0.050345, and 0.049743 molars for the sulfuric acid solution in trials 1,2, and 3, respectively. The
average of 0.05001 M for the concentration of the sulfuric acid is accurate as it is close to the theoretical
value of 0.05 M. After this, the phenolphthalein and total alkalinity of the water sample was then
determined.

The phenolphthalein alkalinity of the water samples was measured by titration with the
standardized sulfuric acid solution. The phenolphthalein alkalinity was easily determined since no color
was produced when the phenolphthalein was added to the samples. This means that the
phenolphthalein alkalinity for samples 1, 2, and 3 are all 0. This was then proceeded by the
determination of the total alkalinity of the samples.

The total alkalinity was determined still by titration with sulfuric acid but is different by adding
methyl orange as an indicator. It is performed until a color change is observed in the samples. The
methods showed a total alkalinity of 225.0463549, 220.0453248, and 220.0453248 mg/L CaCO3 for trials
1,2, and 3, respectively. This averaged to 221.7123348 mg/L CaCO3 total alkalinity of the water sample.

References
Somridhivej, B., & Boyd, C. E. (2016). An assessment of factors affecting the reliability of total alkalinity
measurements. Aquaculture , 99-109.