Course Name: Introduction to Chemistry

Section No:01

Experiment No: 03
Name of the Experiment: Standardization of a strong base
(NaOH) with a standard weak acid, potassium hydrogen
phthalate (KHP)

Student’s Name : Foysal Mohammad Fahim

Student’s ID : 2019-2-80-011

Submitted To : Dr. Thamina Acter

Date of allocation:18/03/2021
Date of submission: 25/03/2021
Experiment Number: 06
Experiment Name : Determination of the acid dissociation constant (Ka) of a weak
acid, Potassium Hydrogen Phthalate (KHP)
Theory:
When a weak acid is dissolved in water, it breaks apart or dissociates to a slight extent. A
proton from the acid is donated to a water molecule. The value of the equilibrium
constant, Ka, indicates to what extent the reaction occurs. The greater the value of Ka, the
stronger the acid, and the greater the amount of dissociation.
Acetic acid and acetate ions are conjugate acid-base pairs. A conjugate acid is a
substance that has one more proton in its structure than its corresponding conjugate base.
C8H5O4K + NaOH ➔ C8H4O4KNa + H2O
According to the buffer equation from Henderso -Hasselbalch equation:
pH = pKa + log[Base]/[Acid]
pH = pKa + log1
pH = pKa + 0
so, pH = pKa ............................................(1)
Therefore, this pH is the pKa of KHP.
Apparatus:
✓ NaOH
✓ 𝐾𝐻𝑃
✓ Phenolphthalein;
✓ Burette
✓ Conical Flask
Procedure:
1. For this experiment we will take strong 1M NaOH(50mL) , weak 0.5M
KHP(25.100mL),indeicator( Phenolphthalein) and Burette and Conical
Flask from stockroom.
2. After that we pour 50 mL strong NaOH on (50mL) burette. On the other
hand,we will going to add0.1mL Phenolphthalein on our 25.100mL KHP
acid. There we caanot see any color change imidiately as Figure 1.
3. After that we will add strong NaOH gradually.
4. At initial stage our pH was 2.75. Then gradually adding volume of NaOH
on the KHP, color has been started to change ,white to light pink where
we get the pH value 8.65
5. And thus our solution get ready.
Experimental Data:

Table 1: Record of pH and volume of NaOH added during titration:

Observation Volume of NaOH pH

No added
1 0 2.75
2 0.5 3.80
3 1.00 4.11
4 1.50 4.31
5 2.00 4.45
6 2.50 4.57
7 3.00 4.67
8 3.50 4.75
10 4.00 4.83
11 4.50 4.91
12 5.00 4.98
13 5.50 5.05
14 6.00 5.12
15 6.50 5.18
16 7.00 5.25
17 7.50 5.31
18 7.75 5.35
19 8.00 5.38
20 8.50 5.45
21 8.70 5.49
22 9.00 5.53
23 9.50 5.60
24 9.75 5.65
25 10.00 5.69
26 10.75 5.84
27 11.00 5.89
28 11.75 6.00
29 12.00 6.19
30 12.75 6.62
31 13.00 6.94
32 13.75 12.09
33 14.00 12.26
34 14.75 12.55
35 15.00 12.61
36 15.75 12.76
 Table 2: Record of burette readings:
p

Observation No Initial burette Final burette Difference Average (mL)

reading (mL) reading (mL) (mL)

1 50 36.94 13.06 13.06

Pka is 5.1
Discussion:
The experiment was done through virtual lab. We standardized NaOH that is a secondary standard
and a strong base with KHP which is a primary standard and a weak acid. We used phenolphthalein
as an indicator because it is a weak acid and it has a pH range of 8.3-10. So as when we added
phenolphthalein, the color of the solution did not change. But when we added some amount of
NaOH, the pH of the solution increased from 2.94 and the color of the solution changed to pink
after adding 13 mL of NaOH. We had to do it very carefully as for adding only a few drop of
NaOH, the color could turn dark pink. So we have to be very careful while doing these kinds of
experiments even we do it in a virtual plot.