Chemistry: Ion Concentration

Inquiry Question
How do you find the ion concentration in a tap water
sample?

Name: ___________________________ Date: ____________

Knowing is half the battle. There are many things that can help us if we are aware of them. In
chemistry, know what you are dealing with is a big one. When looking at things like the environment
or health, some of the things we are looking at may not be so obvious as to what they contain. For
example, it is a very good idea to know what is in your tap water.

We may want to know the ions that are dissolved in the tap water. We may want to know whether the
tap water is safe to drink. We may want to know if the water in our shower is hard or soft (based on
things like carbonate compounds in the water).

This activity uses what we know about solubility to analyze a sample of local tap water (in this case,
from Lumby, BC) for its chloride ion concentration. You will watch a video of an analytical titration
and use the data provided in the video to calculate the chloride ion concentration.

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Instructions:
Begin by watching the video at this link: Determination of Chloride Ion Concentration

Video Questions:

Answer these questions as you watch the video.

1. What is the concentration and formula of the compound in the burette (silver nitrate)?

2. What is the concentration and formula of the indicator (sodium chromate)?

3. If you add Ag+ ions to a solution containing both Cl- and CrO42- which ion will the Ag+ combine
with first?

4. Write a reaction equation for the combination from question 3.

5. What compound forms when all the Cl- has been used up and what colour is it?

6. What is true at the end point? Hint: watch for a banner to appear in the middle of the video.

7. What is the volume of the sample water solution?

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8. What is the net ionic equation? Correct any mistakes in charge placement.

9. How much indicator is added and what colour is the solution at this point?

10. Why is it a good habit to place a white piece of paper under your sample?

11. What happens when the first few drops from the burette are added?

12. What happens when the sample is swirled around?

13. What effect would diluting the silver nitrate solution have?

14. Why do you think it might be better to use a more dilute solution?

15. Give three reasons why it is a good idea to do more than one trial.

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Data and Observations:

Fill in Table 1 below using the data provided at the end of the video. To calculate the volume of
AgNO3 used you subtract the initial reading from the final reading. Note that while the video
mentions using 100 mL samples, for your experiment you should use 25 mL samples in the table.

Table 1: Titration data

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

Volume of water sample used (mL)

Initial reading of buret (mL)

Final reading of buret (mL)

Volume of AgNO3 used (mL)

Calculations:

1. What is the average volume of AgNO3 used in the experiment? Show your calculation.

2. Convert the average volume from mL to L.

3. Determine the average number of mols of Ag+ used. Be sure to use litres for your volume.

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4. Based on the answer to the question above, how many mols of Cl- are in the sample?

5. Calculate the concentration of the chloride ions in the solution. Be careful to use litres for your
volume.

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