Chemistry Extended Essay

What is the effect of rising temperature (15,20,25,30 and 35 OC) on the formation of carbonic
acid in from bubbling CO2 into 200 cm3 of distilled water measured by NaOH (0.01M) titration?

1.1 INTRODUCTION
One of the world’s leading environmental issues today is concerned with ocean acidification.
Although some people do not believe in global warming, there is substantial evidence in the
drop of pH over the last century. This …...According to the National Ocean Service (NOAA),
ocean acidification is the reduction in the pH of the ocean over an extended period of time,
caused primarily by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere1. Finding this
problem extremely crucial to the welfare of future generations, it surprised me that this study is
only a few years old. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has been increasing from the
combustion of fossils and the shift in land use and few people are conscious of the results their
daily living has on CO2 levels.

CO2 affects ocean chemistry to a great extent. A few months ago, I read an article from The
Guardian on how the ocean temperature reached the highest in history in 2019 and that the
rate of heating was accelerating2. This made me realize the complexity of the issue at hand. The
rise in temperature caused by CO2 is setting off further catastrophic reactions like the
dissolution of the gas in water bodies in some way like a domino effect.

This led me to my research question: What is the effect of rising temperature (15,20,25,30 and
35OC) on the formation of carbonic acid in from bubbling CO2 into 200 cm 3 of distilled water
measured by NaOH (0.01M) titration?

1 https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/acidification.html < last accessed 24/02/2020 >

2https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/13/ocean-temperatures-hit-record-high-as-rate-of-
heating-accelerates < last accessed 24/02/2020 >5
Background information

In this section I will be explaining my source of carbon dioxide used in this experiment and the
chain of reactions the formed CO2 undergoes to lead to the drop in pH. This will also include
the rising of earth’s temperature over the past 200 years and the neutralization between
carbonic acid (H2CO3) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH).

Source and formation of CO2

-

Reaction of Carbon dioxide in water

The level of CO2 in the atmosphere is approximately 370 ppm and currently rising by about 1.7
ppm/v ( Lal 2008 ). The mol fules

Reaction between carbonic acid and NaOH

Hypothesis
I anticipate that as the temperature of the water increases this will decrease in the formation of
carbonic acid. This is because the reaction between aqueous CO2 and water is an exothermic
reaction. Increase in the amount of heat supplied would favour the backward reaction.
However, an increase in heat should also increase the formation of 2H+ ions as the
decomposition of H2CO3 is endothermic. Therefore I expect carbonic acid concentration to
decrease.

Methodology
The design of this experiment was based on journal articles on the production of carbonated
water. I adapted the mechanism to be more suitable to my approach and also to make it more
relatable to the real life phenomenon of water bodies as carbon sinks. Moreover, the capacity
of the lab equipment available at my school cannot handle the high pressure at which most
sparkling water is produced. However, the occurrence of natural sparkling water made me see
the link between the artificial process and nature. The design of the experiment also meant that
there were many variables in place.

Independent Variable
The independent variable of this investigation was the temperature of the water. The chosen
temperatures were 15, 20, 25, 30, 45OC. This was done by changing the temperature of the
water bath in which the water (in conical flask) for bubbling CO was placed. Because of
2

limitations of the water bath, I could not work with a temperature lower than 15OC. I could have
used an ice bath however all the ice would have melted before the end of each trial. The seas
and most water bodies in the polar regions can go as low as -2OC whilst those in lower latitudes
can reach up to 36OC. My independant variable values allowed me to cover a wider range of
average temperatures. Another factor to take into account was the difference in the
temperature with increase in ocean depth. My independent variable had to closely model this
discrepancy.

Dependent Variable
This was the volume the bubbled water which would be required to neutralize 5cm3 of NaOH
(0.01M). The values for this were taken from the readings of the burette during titration.

Controlled Variables

This investigation had a number of variables that needed to be kept constant throughout all the
trials in order to attain fair results which closely reflect the effect of temperature on carbonic
acid formation. This process

Variable  Reasons for Controlling  How to control variable 

1. Volume of the CO is bubbled into the water. Water is
2 For each trial, 200 cm3 of
water to be one of the reactants that are reacting to distilled water were
bubbled   form carbonic acid. More water would measured using a
mean the lesser the concentration of measuring cylinder.
carbonic acid that is present. Equal
amounts are important for measuring
only the effect of temperature.   
2.Time of bubbling  There is more time of reaction and more A time was set to 30
products would be formed. minutes for each trial.

3.Pressure Higher pressure increases the rate of Same volume of flask was
reaction as reactants collide more used. All trials were
quickly. carried out under room
pressure.
4.Mass of CaCO 3 More amounts of CaCO would produce
3 8.00g of CaCO were 3

more amounts of CO . The reaction ration measured using an

2

is 1:1  electronic balance.

5.Amount of heating The rate of reaction is dependent on The Bunsen burner was
supplied to CaCO temperature. For equal rate of CO
3 2 left open in the blue flame
production and bubbling, the heat zone.
supplied in all trials has to be constant. 

6.Time of titration The reaction between water and The titration was done
after bubbling  carbonic acid is reversible. Some immediately after the
dissolved CO in water that has not
2 bubbling ceased for all
reacted can escape. The longer you wait, trials.
the more CO escapes from the water.
2
Apparatus and Materials 

Apparatus                                                             
● 3 x 100 cm3 Beaker (± 5cm3)                                                                   
● 6 x 250 cm3 Conical flasks (± 25cm3) 
● 2 x 50 cm3 Burette (± 0.05 cm3)
● 100 cm3 Measuring cylinder(± 0.5 cm3)
● Volumetric Pipette 10(±0.05 cm3)
● Timer (±0.05 sec) 
● Thermometer (± 0.05OC)
● Electronic balance(± 0.0005 g)
● Bunsen burner
● Retort Stand 
● Fire stand 
● Connecting tubes 
● Weighing boat 
● Spatula 
● Glass Stirring rod 
● Water bath 
● Funnel
● Pipette filler

Materials
● Distilled water 
● Solid NaOH
● NaOH (0.01M)
● Calcium carbonate 
● Phenolphthalein indicator
 

Procedure  

Set up 
1. Set up the connecting tubes to the flasks as demonstrated below: 

Figure 1: showing setup for bubbling CO2 into water

Make sure all the connections are tightly secured to avoid any leaks of CO2.

Bubbling of CO 2 gas 

1. Using a measuring cylinder, pour 200 cm of distilled water into a 250 cm3 conical flask
3

2. Measuring with a weighing boat 8.00g of calcium carbonate and use a spatula to put the
calcium carbonate into another flask 
3. Set up the two flasks as shown in figure 2, with the flask with the calcium carbonate under
the Bunsen burner and the one with the water, in the water bath
4. Ensure that all the flasks are securely connected
5. Turn the Bunsen burner on and immediately begin the timer 
6. Leave the set up for 30 minutes, and turn off Bunsen burner afterwards. 

Preparation of NaOH solutions 

1. To prepare 0.01 mol of NaOH measure 0.399 g of solid sodium hydroxide using a weighing
boat and electronic balance and place into a beaker 
2. Add distilled water to dissolve and stir using a stirring rod. Rinse the stirring rod afterwards
with 
3. Pour the solution into a volumetric flask and add more water until 1000 cm 3 mark is
reached. 

Titrations 
1. Rinse the burette using deionized/distilled water and afterwards with the water solutions
that have been bubbled from the set up. It is important to ensure there is no air space in
the bottom fill. 
2. Fill the burette with the titrant to the final volume (50cm3) using a funnel. 
3. Fix the burette to the retort stand and put a white tile/paper on the base of the retort stand
to clearly observe the colour change of the indicator.
4. Pipette 5cm3 of the NaOH (0.01M) into a small conical flask. Add 2 drops of
phenolphthalein. The solution should still be colorless as phenolphthalein is purple in
presence of a basic solution.
5. Place the conical flask with base on the white paper and record the initial volume of titrant. 
6. Add drop -wisely the titrant to the base solution and stop immediately once the endpoint
has been reached. Shake the reactants to promote collisions of all reacting particles. 
7. Record the final volume of the burette to the nearest 0.01cm3 Make sure to read the
.

volume at the bottom of the meniscus. 

8. Repeat the titrations 8 times for each water solution bubbled under different temperatures.
9. Record the results in a table for each trial.

Safety precautions

-Care should be taken when working with the Bunsen burner. Heat resistant gloves should be
worn at all times when removing the flasks after 30 minutes. 
- The water bath can reach high temperature. Set the temperature for each trial correctly and
more attentively.
- Glass ware is fragile and can break at high temperature which can cause skin cuts. Work
carefully when handling glass material. It is important to note that a few of the flasks I used
broke due to high temperatures during the trials. This led me to lower the burner to a constant
lower temperature.
- Phenolphthalein solution and NaOH can cause irritation to the skin. Wear gloves when
carrying out titrations. Avoid spilling it on your skin or clothing and dispose of waste in waste
containers.

Results

Raw Data

The following results were gathered from the base acid titration of 5cm 3 of NaOH (0.01M). For
each trial a set of 8 titrations were done consecutively.

Data Analysis

After collecting the raw data, I went to calculate the averages for both the two sets of data;
For the mass change of CaCO3, I averaged all the values from the trials in order to come up with
a mean value for the amount of CO2 gas evolved for all the experiments. Due to the nature of
the heating there was a little loss in the mass.

I found the average mass loss to be 0.254 g. I used this figure as an estimate of the number of
moles of CO2 produced from the chemical equation of the reaction.

The ratio of the reaction is 1:1 (see Eq 7)

No of moles (CaCO3) = 0.254

100.09

Hence an average of 0.0025 moles of CO2 were bubbled into the 200cm3 of water for
each trial.

This gives us the amount of CO2 that was evolved from the calcium carbonate. However, it does
not say how much of that went on to dissolve in the water and eventually react with water
molecules to form H2CO3.

This leads only to around

Interpretation of results