Page 1 of 2 The mole concept

Conductimetric titration

The end point of a titration can be found by following the electrical conductivity during the
titration. Conductivity of a solution increases with an increase in the number of moles of
ions in solution. The end point of the titration corresponds to the minimum ammeter reading
(lowest conductivity) for a reaction that proceeds with a decreases in number of moles of
ions from reactants to products e.g. Ba(OH)2(aq) + H2SO4(aq) → BaSO4(s) + H2O(l).

The ionic equation is: Ba2+(aq) + 2OH–(aq) + 2H+ + SO42-(aq) → BaSO4(s) + 2H2O(l).

In the above reaction, the reactants side has 6 (Ba2+ + 2OH– + 2H+ + SO42–) moles of
ions and the products side no ions. In this case, the ammeter reading will fall to zero then
start rising due to ions produced by excess sulphuric acid added. The volume at the end
point corresponds to the minimum ammeter reading which will be zero in the above case.
AC variable resistance
AR = ammeter reading
A dil. H2SO4 AR
acid ions used excess H+
up & SO42-
graphite
Ba(OH)2 end point
solution vol of acid

For a reaction that proceeds with an increase in number of moles of ions from reactants to
products, the end point of the titration corresponds to the maximum ammeter reading
(greatest conductivity). In such a titration where ions are not at the start of the reaction but
appear at the end, the curve rises from zero to a maximum at the end point.

Thermometric titration
The end point of acid-base titration can be found by follow the temperature change during
the neutralization reaction since they are usually exothermic reactions.
About 25cm3 of the acid is placed in the breaker and record
Temp

its temperature noted using a clean dry thermometer.

end point
Remove the thermometer, rinse with distilled water and dry
with unused tissue paper. About 5cm3 of the base is run from
the burette into another beaker, diluted with some water and
its temperature recorded a clean dry thermometer. The two
vol of base solutions are then mixed and stirred gently with a
thermometer to record the maximum temperature attained. This procedure is then repeated
with varying volumes of the base like 10cm3, 15cm3 etc. A graph of change in temperature
and change in volume of base is then plotted. The point of intersection of the two straight
lines can be extrapolated:
 vertically to determine the volume of the titrant required for complete neutralization .
 horizontally to determine the maximum temperature when complete neutralization takes place .
e.g. OH–(aq) + H+(aq) → H2O(l).

Precipitation titration

This is a type of titration involving silver nitrate solution and a soluble halide (MXn) e.g.
NaCl, KCl etc. This titration is carried out in a neutral medium since acidic medium will
convert the indicator (K2CrO4) to dichromate and in a basic medium; silver is precipitated as
silver oxide (Ag2O). In this titration, the silver nitrate solution is placed in a burette and the
halide solution in the conical flask. The indicator used for this titration is usually potassium
chromate (VI); K2CrO4 solution. This is because silver chromate (VI) (Ag2CrO4) is red and

A-Level chemistry notes 2014-2015 school year prepared by Nkemzi E.N

 Page 2 of 2 The mole concept

more soluble than the silver halides i.e. AgCl, AgBr and AgI. During the titration, the halide
ions are precipitated as white precipitate in the case of chloride, pale yellow (cream)
precipitate in the case of bromide ion and yellow precipitation in the case of iodide solution.
The end point of the titration is noticed by the appearance of red precipitate of silver
chromate (VI). An equation for such a titration is:
AgNO3(aq) + MX(s) → AgX(s) + MNO3(s) and ionically as Ag+(aq) + X–(aq) → AgX(s).
E.g. Ag+(aq) + Cl–(aq) → AgCl(s). 2Ag+(aq) + CrO42–(aq) → Ag2CrO4(s).
White ppte red ppte

Example:

All silver ions in 25cm3 of 0.1moldm-3 silver nitrate (AgNO3) solution were completely
precipitated using 22cm3 of calcium chloride solution. Calculate the concentration of the
calcium chloride.

Assignment:

1. 10cm3 of 0.05moldm-3 solution of a metal chloride (MCln); required 10cm3 of

0.15moldm-3 solution of silver nitrate for complete precipitation of the chloride. Use the
information to determine the value of ‘n’ in MCln. To what group of the Periodic Table
could the metal belong if it is either an s-block or p-block?

2. All silver in 250cm3 of AgNO3 solution was precipitated using NaCl solution. 0.7g of
AgCl was obtained. Calculate the concentration silver nitrate solution in moldm-3.
(Ag = 107, Cl = 35.5)

Solution

Complexiometric titration

This is a titration of a metal ion with a complexing agent such as EDTA. The disodium salt
of EDTA (Na2EDTA) is usually used as the complexing agent due to the high stability of its
complex. In the complex, the EDTA ratio to that of the metal ion is usually 1:1 respectively.

Na2EDTA

Indicator for these types of titrations are other complexing agent which form very strong
coloured complexes with the metal ion but the complex is less stable compared to that
formed between the metal ion and EDTA so that during the titration the colour of the
indicator will be completely discharged as a stronger ligand (EDTA) displaces the indicator
to form a more stable complex. The value of ‘n’ in Mn+ above is usually 2
Examples of these indicators are.
Eriochrome black T for metal ions such as Mg2+,Ca2+,Mn2+,Ni2+,and Cu2+ titration
Murexide is also used for Ni2+ and Cu2+ titration.
The equation for such a titration involving zinc sulphate solution (ZnSO4(aq)) is:

Zn2+(aq) + EDTA2-(aq) → ZnEDTA(aq).

A-Level chemistry notes 2014-2015 school year prepared by Nkemzi E.N