EXPERIMENT 1

STANDARDIZATION OF HCl SOLUTION WITH Na2CO3 PRIMARY STANDARD

OBJECTIVE
To determine the exact molarity of a hydrochloric acid solution.
INTRODUCTION
Pure sodium carbonate is a non-hygroscopic primary standard reagent. A standard solution
prepared by dissolving a known amount of the solid Na2CO3 in a fixed volume can be used to
standardize other acid solutions. The aim of the experiment is to prepare a standard solution of
exact concentration which can later be used to standardize other solutions.
HCl is not a primary standard. Thus, after a dilute HCl solution is prepared, it has to be
standardized with a primary standard solution in order to determine its concentration
accurately. In this experiment, a standard Na2CO3 solution will be prepared. The HCl solution
will later be standardized against the Na2CO3 solution. The reaction between HCl and Na2CO3 is
as follows.
2 HCl + Na2CO3  2 NaCl + H 2O + CO2

APPARATUS
100 mL beaker
250 mL volumetric flask
250 mL conical flask
25 mL pipette
Burette
Retort stand

CHEMICALS

Na2CO3
Concentrated HCl
Methyl orange indicator
PROCEDURE

a) Preparation of 0.05 M Na2CO3 solution

1. About 1.33 g of Na2CO3 is weighed accurately. The exact mass of the Na2CO3 is
recorded.
2. The Na2CO3 is dissolved into a 50 mL water in a 100 mL beaker.
3. The solution is transferred into a 250 mL volumetric flask. The beaker is rinsed
with distilled water.
4. The distilled water is added to the mark. Stopper the flask. Shook it by turning it
upside down a few times to make the solution homogeneous.

b) Preparation of a dilute HCl solution

1. About 2.2 mL of concentrated HCl is transferred into a 250 mL beaker containing
a little water.
2. The acid is diluted approximately 250 mL with distilled water.

c) Standardization of the dilute HCl solution.

1. A burette is filled with the dilute HCl solution prepared in (b) above. The initial
burette reading is recorded.
2. 25.0 mL of the standard Na2CO3 is pipetted into a 250 mL conical flask. 2-3 drops
of methyl orange indicator is added.
3. The Na2CO3 is titrated in the conical flask with the HCl from the burette slowly
while shooking the flask until the indicator colour change from yellow to red. The
burette reading at the end point of the titration is recorded.
4. The titration is repeated 3 times. All the data is recorded in a table as shown in
the datasheet.
5. The exact molarity of the HCl solution is calculated.
RESULTS

1. Weight of Na2CO3 used : 1.33 g

2. Standardized of HCl with Na2CO3 solution

Rough 1 2 3
Initial burette 0.69 1.68 2.41 0.89
reading (mL)

Final burette 25.69 26.49 26.49 25.58

reading (mL)

Volume of HCl 25.00 24.81 24.08 24.69

used (mL)

3. Calculate the molarity of the HCl solution.

QUESTION

Calculate the molarity of the concentrated HCl.

DISCUSSION

In this experiment, we conducted a study to determine the exact molarity of a

hydrochloric acid solution. We first prepared the 0.05 M Na2CO3 solution and dilute HCl
solution then we standardized the dilute HCl solution using titration. To prepare the 0.05 M
Na2CO3 solution, we need to weigh accurately 1.33 g of Na2CO3, so that it will not affect our
results later. Then dissolve the Na2CO3 in about 50 mL water. We need to make sure to add the
distilled water until the mark and shake the conical flask to make the solution homogenous. As
for the titration process, we filled the burette with dilute HCl solution that was prepared above
and recorded the initial value. We pipetted the standard Na2CO3. Methyl orange indicator was
added because the sodium carbonate was converted to sodium bicarbonate which will depicts
the faint yellowish colour change which help in determining the end point. Methyl orange will
change from yellow to red. The calculation of the molarity of the hydrochloric acid solution
being standardised should take into account the fact that two moles of HCl will neutralise one
mole of sodium carbonate.

While conducting these experiment, there are a few precautions that we make sure to
avoid. One of them are all the apparatus that going to be used had to be washed cleanly and
thoroughly before used. Then before transferring the solution, it must be checked that there
should not be any air bubble that was trapped in the pipette or burette, otherwise it will affect
our results. It was unavoidable to have errors while conducting the experiment, there might be
come contamination of chemicals in the apparatus. Also, the reading taking might not be very
accurate. In order to avoid that, we take the reading at least three times from different people
and sum up the average to help us get an accurate result. Anhydrous sodium carbonate was a
very good primary standard because it was pure, stable and relatively non-hygroscopic. There
might be some absorption of water in the anhydrous sodium carbonate since it was took out
from the desiccator. Moreover, the weight could not be ensure. While doing the titration, a
white tile or white paper should be placed under the conical flask to facilitate the detection and
end point and it also make it easy for us to detect the color changing of the solution.
CONCLUSION

In the conclusion, the objective of this experiment was achieved. We managed to obtain the
exact and concentrated molarity of HCl solution.

REFERENCES

1. http://www.titrations.info/acid-base-titration-solution-standardization

2. https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-determine-the-standardisation-of-HCl-using-sodium-
carbonate

3. https://www.scribd.com/doc/53672613/Standardization-of-Hydrochloric-Acid

4. http://www.chem.latech.edu/~deddy/chem104/104Standard.htm