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Ph and conductivity of solutions

Zeinab Ahmed Elbhnsawi

193247

Submitted to: Dr. Ziad Khalifa

Physical Chemistry

Year 2, Chemical Engineering

The British University in Egypt

Paper format: APA style with BUE guidelines

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Abstract

The following lab report discusses the pH values and conductivity of solution using pH

meter to differentiate between four different solutions to detect whether they are acidic or basic

then a conductivity meter is used to measure the conductivity of solution at different

concentration levels were it was found that by dilution the conductivity decreases.

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Table of contents

Abstract..........................................................................................................................................2

Table of contents............................................................................................................................3

Introduction....................................................................................................................................4

Experimental method....................................................................................................................6

Experimental results......................................................................................................................8

1. PH Meter.............................................................................................................................8

2. Conductivity Meter.............................................................................................................8

Sources of errors............................................................................................................................9

Conclusion....................................................................................................................................10

References.....................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction

At a certain temperature, the product of the concentrations of H + and OH- concentrations can

be defined as the ionic product of water KW. It can be represented as an equilibrium constant for

many reactions.

The value of the ionic product of water can change by changing temperature so that its value

varies but its usual value equals 1.00 x 10-14 at normal room temperature where the values of H +

and OH- concentrations are compatible whereby increasing H+ concentration, thus of OH-

decreases and vice versa (Clark, 2014).

Acids can be illustrated as a hydrogen ion donating substance while the base is an accepting ion

substance. Where both acids and bases have weak and strong substances depending on many

factors. In acids, strong ones are acids which dissociates completely in water while weak acids

are those who don’t dissociate fully where the strong acid dissociation can be represented by the

following equation,

While the weak acid dissociation can be illustrated in the following equation (Strong and Weak

Acids and Bases, 2020).

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On the other hand, strong bases are bases which gets fully ionized in any solution while weak

ones get partially ionized (Strong and Weak Acids and Bases, 2020).

The Ph value acts as an indicator to the level of acidity or basicity of a substance. Where its

range goes from zero to 14 where from zero to 7 indicates an acid, 7 indicates neutral and larger

than 7 indicates basic substance. In order to calculate the Ph value, the negative log of the

concentration of the hydrogen ion (Helmenstine, 2020).

Polar substances can be differentiated as electrolytes and nonelectrolytes depending on their

conductivity, electrolytes can be differentiated as strong and weak electrolytes, strong

electrolytes are solutions where most of its solute dissolve to form ions to be a very good current

conductor while in case of weak electrolytes, a very small amount of the solute exist in the form

of ions so they are weak conductors for current (Strong and Weak Electrolytes, 2021).

Figure 1. Electrolytes

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Experimental method

The Ph meter is a device used to measure the PH value of substances by measuring the hydrogen

ion activity, which is the first part of this experiment. The PH meter is composed of a voltmeter

that is connected to an electrode which is usually glass electrode. Usually, silver chloride

electrode exists in the set up as a reference electrode. The electrodes get inserted in the solution

to know its PH value by doing the function of a battery. The used glass electrode emits a certain

potential so that the voltmeter measures the difference in potentials between both the glass and

the reference electrodes (Britannica, 2021).

Figure 2. PH meter set up

Figure 3. Glass electrode mechanism

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The conductivity meter is used to detect the current amount inside a certain solution where it has

a probe which is used by hand to be inserted in the solution where two electrodes are present in

this probe by which an amount of voltage is applied and get resistance by the solution causing a

drop in voltage that is detected by the meter (Bartleson, 2018).

Figure 4. conductivity meter

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Experimental results

1. PH Meter

Unknown solution pH value Acid or base

NaCl 6.77 Approximately neutral

NaOH 12.3 Basic

Acetic acid 3 Acidic

HCl 1.2 Acidic

2. Conductivity Meter

Sample Concentration Conductivity

1 8 g/100 L 70.2

2 4 g/100 L 35.3

3 2 g/100 L 19.95

4 1 g/100 L 12.42

5 0.5 g/100 L 6.43

Figure 5. conductivity vs concentration

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Sources of errors

The sources of errors in this experiment can be represented in the non-complete cleanliness of

the electrodes of both the PH and the conductivity meters where the distilled water wasn’t

exactly neutral which may have caused errors in readings, human errors can be presented in not

making sure that the flasks are clean and dry before adding samples, systematic errors can be

detected in both meters where they may be not calibrated well. These errors can be avoided by

many means, firstly, by making sure the distilled water is neutral and make sure electrodes and

flasks are clean, the meters should also be calibrated before performing the experiment.

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Conclusion

This experiment focuses on using the PH meter and the conductivity meter to differentiate

between solution and finding a relation between conductivity and concentration. Firstly, Ph

meter is used to differentiate between four solutions where it was found that NaCl was neutral,

NaOH was basic and both acetic acid and HCl were acidic by using their pH values. The other

part of the experiment detected the change in conductivity of solution by changing its

concentration starting from 8 g/100 L reaching 0.5 g/100 L where the conductivity decreased by

dilution of the solution and a curve is drawn to show the relation between concentration and

conductivity.

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References

1. Bartleson, B. (2018, march 13). What Is a Conductivity Meter? Retrieved from sciencing:

https://sciencing.com/conductivity-meter-5134852.html

2. Britannica, T. E. (2021, april 1). PH meter. Retrieved from Britannica :

https://www.britannica.com/technology/pH-meter

3. Clark, J. (2014, December). THE IONIC PRODUCT FOR WATER, Kw. Retrieved from

Chem Guide: https://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/acidbaseeqia/kw.html

4. Helmenstine, A. M. (2020, may 2). How to calculate Ph values. Retrieved from thought

co: https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-calculate-ph-quick-review-606089

5. Strong and Weak Acids and Bases. (2020, December 29). Retrieved from chemistry

libretexts: https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/Map

%3A_Introductory_Chemistry_(Tro)/14%3A_Acids_and_Bases/

14.07%3A_Strong_and_Weak_Acids_and_Bases

6. Strong and Weak Electrolytes. (2021, may 4). Retrieved from chemistry libretexts:

https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/Book

%3A_Introductory_Chemistry_(CK-12)/15%3A_Water/

15.09%3A_Strong_and_Weak_Electrolytes

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