Name ___ABDALLA ALJASMI______________

Molar Mass, pKa, and Ka of Weak Acid

In CHM151 and possibly CHM130, you titrated a weak acid with a strong base to determine the
molarity of the weak acid solution and the molar mass of the weak acid. You are doing the
same is this lab experiment, but you will be using a pH meter to track the progress of the
titration, not an acid/base indicator. By using a pH meter, we can also determine the pKa of the
weak acid, and from it, the Ka of the weak acid.

You perform a titration just as you have done before, except to monitor changes in the pH after
addition of strong base, rather than look for the formation of a pink color (assuming you are
using phenolphthalein as indicator). Every time an addition of NaOH results in a larger pH
increases, you decrease the size of the next addition. A general rule of thumb is if you see a
change of pH of 0.2 or greater, decrease the size of the next addition by half.

Your job in this lab is to generate data for an acid/base titration curve similar to those we saw
in our Chapter 16 presentation.
 Figure 1
In today’s lab, you record the following data.

Molarity of NaOH solution = 0.189

Volume of Unknown Weak Acid = 30.0 mL

Mass of Unknown Acid Titrated = 1.086 grams

Your pH versus mL NaOH added is given in Table 1.

mL NaOH pH mL NaOH pH mL NaOH pH

added added added
0 3.70 27.00 5.95 31.30 7.04
3.00 4.21 27.50 6.00 31.40 7.15
5.00 4.46 28.00 6.06 31.50 7.30
7.00 4.64 28.50 6.13 31.60 7.53
9.00 4.79 28.75 6.17 31.70 8.03
11.00 4.91 29.00 6.21 31.80 10.22
13.00 5.03 29.25 6.26 31.90 10.67
15.00 5.14 29.50 6.31 32.00 10.89
16.00 5.20 29.75 6.36 32.25 11.18
17.00 5.25 30.00 6.43 32.50 11.36
18.00 5.31 30.25 6.50 33.00 11.58
20.00 5.42 30.50 6.58 35.00 11.98
22.00 5.54 30.75 6.68 38.00 12.24
24.00 5.68 31.00 6.81
26.00 5.85 31.10 6.87
26.50 5.89 31.20 6.95

Use the data in this table to generate a titration curve similar to Figure 1. You may do by hand
or use software.
 ph
14

12

Equivalence
10 point

8
PH

VOLUME USED

In this data set, we should be able to easily determine the equivalence point volume. The
equivalence point volume is the steepest point in the titration curve. This would be the volume
that gives the largest change in pH.
Equivalence Point Volume is ________31.75__________ mL

Use this equivalence point volume and other data above to determine (show your work for all
the calculations).

Moles of NaOH at the equivalence point.

As we know that
Molarity of NaOH solution = 0.189 M

0.189 mol 31.75 mL 1 L

L 1000 mL

= 0.006 mol NaoH

The concentration of the weak acid solution. Assume it is a monoprotic acid.

As it is a monoprotic acid then the moles of base is equal to the moles of weak acid.

Moles of weak acid = 0.006 mol

Volume of Unknown Weak Acid = 30.0 mL

0.006 𝑚𝑜𝑙
[conc. Of weak acid ] =
0.03 𝐿

[conc. Of weak acid ] = 0.2 M

Molar mass of the weak acid.

Moles of weak acid = 0.006 mol
Mass of Unknown Acid Titrated = 1.086 grams

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠
Molar mass =
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠

1.086 𝑔
= = 181 g / mol
0.006 𝑚𝑜𝑙
Now, we are going to use the data in the table to practice some acid/base titration problems,
specifically four problems corresponding to the four areas in an acid/base titration. We want to
determine the pH in each of these four areas.

Area I: Before any NaOH has been added.

Area II: The buffer region – the area after NaOH has been added but before the
equivalence point has been reached.

Area III: The equivalence point.

Area IV: After the equivalence point.

To determine the pH in areas I-III, we need to know the Ka of the weak acid, which we don’t yet
know. To find the Ka of the weak acid, we make use of the fact that the pH at one-half the
equivalence point volume is the pKa of the weak acid. Once we know the pKa of our weak acid,
we can easily get its Ka.

What is the equivalence point volume?

31.75 ml

What is one-half of this volume?

15.87 ml

What is the pH at one-half the equivalence point volume?

5.19

What is the pKa of our weak acid?

5.19

What is Ka of our weak acid?

pKa = −log10Ka.
Ka = 10−pKa

Ka = 6.46 × 10-6

Now we are ready to get the pH in areas I-III.

Area I: In area I, all we have is a weak acid, so we do a standard weak acid, step 1-5
problem. You can check your answer by looking at the data in Table 1. If you do
everything correct, your calculated value show be very close to the value in the
table for pH at 0 mL NaOH added.
Area II: For area II, we need to do a start, react, left over with table (in units of moles).
Since area II is the buffer region, we should find we are left with just a conjugate
acid and its conjugate base. This is a buffer, so we will be using the Henderson-
Hasselbach equation. Use the generic equation for reacting a buffer with a
strong base. Do your calculation using 20.00 mL of NaOH added. If your
calculation is correct, your answer should be very close to the recorded pH at
20.00 mL.
Area III: This time you will add 31.75 mL of the NaOH. Do a start, reaction, left table
problem. Assume you are at the equivalence point. At the equivalence point
you only have the conjugate weak base left. You need to do a weak base step 1-
5 problem in molarity. Remember that this table is done in units of molarity.
Convert moles of left over weak base to molarity. Your answer should be
between the pHs given for 31.70 mL and 31.80 mL.
Area IV: Now you are beyond the equivalence point. A start, change, reaction table
should indicate you end up with excess strong base (in moles). Convert to
molarity OH-, get pOH, and then pH. Use a volume of 35.00 mL (and your
answer should be close to that given in the table for 35.00 mL.