Experiment No:4

Determination of Acidity of a given water

Sample
Introduction:
On pH Scale when

 pH=7.0 solution is neutral

 pH<7.0 solution is acidic
 pH>7.0 solution is the considered as alkaline

Generally it is considered that all waters have pH lower than 8.5

contain acidity. The acidity of neutral waters is caused by CO 2 or by
strong mineral acids. The former being effective agent in water having
pH greater than 4.5 and later for pH values less than 4.5.

CO2 enter surface water, when the particle pressure of CO 2 in water

is less than partial pressure of CO 2 in atmosphere or through biological
oxidation of organic matter
C O 2 +CaCO3 + H 2 O yields Ca ¿ ¿
→

⇔
−2
−¿❑ CO 3 +C O2 +H 2 O ¿
2 HCO 3

⇔
CO−2 −¿¿
3 + H 2 O❑ C O 2 +2 OH

Principle:
Both CO2 and mineral acid can be measured by means of standard
alkali solutions. The mineral acids are measured by titration to a pH of
about 4.5 Mineral acidity is known as methyl orange acidity titration of a
sample to the phenolphthalein end point of pH 8.3 measures both
mineral acid plus acidity due to weak acid. This total acidity is also
referred as phenolphthalein acidity.
Reagents:

 Standard 0.1 N NaOH

 Standard 0.1 N Na2S2O3
 Phenolphthalein Indicator
 Methyl orange Indicator

Procedure:
Mineral Acidity:

 Take 50 ml sample
 If the sample contain free residual chlorine add 0.05 ml of 0.1N
Na2S2O3 otherwise proceed directly.
 Add two drops of methyl orange indicator.
 Titrate with 0.02N NaOH to a permanent color range
 Take at least three concordant readings
Total Acidity:

 Repeat the procedure A using phenolphthalein indicator to obtain

pinkish color.
 When heavy metals salts are present, it is desired to heat the
sample to boiling and then carryout the titration.

Calculations:
A × N ×50000
Total Acidity=
ml of Sample

Where A = ml of 0.1 N NaOH

N = Normality of NaOH