Chemistry Practicals

Titrations ( Quantitative analysis ) and Salt analysis ( Quantitative

analysis )
What do you mean by Volumetric analysis?
• It is a simple laboratory technique for quantitative estimation of
substances by measurement of reacting volumes .
• In order that volumetric analysis can be used as a tool for estimation the
following conditions should be satisfied.
• The reaction should be a simple and straight reaction that can be
represented by a balanced chemical equation .
• The reacting substances should react completely with each other and in
equivalent proportions .
• The reaction should proceed at a great speed under normal conditions .
• No other side reaction should occur during this process .
Terms used in volumetric analysis
• Titration :
• the process of determining the exact volume of a solution required to bring about a
chemical reaction to the completion .
• Titrant :
• the solution containing a known weight of the substance .
• Titrate :
• the solution which contains a substance to be estimated .
• Standard solution:
• a solution of known concentration is known as a standard solution . the
concentration of the solution is usually expressed in terms of molarity or normality .
• Normality :
• 1 gram equivalent of a substance dissolved in one liter of a solution is
called a 1N solution .
• Indicator :
• it is a substance which if we add to the titrate it will indicate the
completion of the reaction by changing its color and the endpoint .
• Endpoint:
• this is the point in titration which indicates just the completion of a
chemical reaction .
Apparatus used in volumetric analysis
• It is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the different
types of apparatus used and the method of handling them .
Burette 

• it's a long uniform graduated glass

tube( in our lab, we use a plastic one )
which usually has a stopper at the
lower end .
• it's graduated in mL. The zero mark is at
the top end of the burette while the
50mL mark will be towards the lower
end .
• Each mL is further subdivided into 10
parts , indicating 0.1 mL
Pipette
• It is used to deliver unknown but fixed
volume of a liquid rapidly and accurately.
• It consists of a narrow stem at the top and
enlarged bulb at the center a long delivery
tip .
• The narrow stem at the top has an
indication mark up to which the liquid has
to be filled .
• The fixed capacity of the pipette is
normally indicated on the central bulb.
Titration flask
• This is usually a conical flask of known volume with a narrow neck and
a large bottle .
• The liquid whose strength has to be determined is usually taken in the
conical flask.
Handling the Burette

• The burette is usually rinsed with water and it is drained off

through the stopcock .
• This burette is clamped vertically in the burette stand and
filled with the titrant through a funnel .
• In this process , it's possible that some air bubbles are
trapped inside the solution in the burette .
• The solution can be drained , air pockets removed and the
solution can be refilled .
The burette is now ready for titration
• Care should be taken to ensure that the reading on the
burette is observed correctly .
• The reading is noted by checking the meniscus .
• For colored solutions the upper meniscus is noted .
• For colorless solutions the lower meniscus is noted .
• While making observations ,we have to
be careful to avoid parallax error .
• For this, we use an anti parallax card
-any small piece of white paper can be
used as an anti parallax card
• Whenever observations are made the
eyes must be kept at the same level of
the liquid .
• .
Using the pipette
• the pipette should be initially checked to ensure that the tip of the pipette is not broken .
• The mark on the stem of the pitch should be clearly visible .
• Like the burette, the pipette should be cleaned thoroughly with water .
• it should be held horizontally when the liquid is being taken in .
• the index finger can be used to close the top of the stem to hold the liquid in the pit .
• Note : now we have a rubber ball on the mouth of the pipette , so as to avoid any contact
with our mouth.
• The pipette should be rinsed by holding it horizontally and rotating it in the liquid that has
been used for rinsing should be drained out .

• The level of the liquid should be viewed horizontally by holding the pipette straight before the
eyes to avoid parallax error .
• Here also for coloured solutions, the lower meniscus is noted and for
colored solutions the upper meniscus is noted .
• the pipette is quickly moved to the conical flask and the liquid is
allowed to drain .
• after the entire liquid has been drained , we keep the top of the
pipette pressed against the wall of the conical flask for 10 seconds .
• The last drop in the pipette remains in it, should not be blown into the
conical flask as 20 mL is already accounted for.
Procedure of titration
• The titrate is always taken in the burette.
• The titrant will be taken in the conical flask.
• A drop of indicator is added to observe the change in colour of the
solution towards endpoint.
• The conical flask is placed over a tile kept on the base of the burette
stand.
• The stop cock of the burette is held by the left hand and the conical
flask is held in the right hand.
• The contents in the conical flask is continuously swirled to ensure that
there is homogenous mixing of the solutions.
• When there is a sudden colour change we stop the flow of liquid from
burette and the reading on the burette is noted.
• The difference between the final and initial reading of the liquid in the
burette is entered in the tabular columns.
• The titration is repeated till we arrive at concordant readings.
Precautions
The apparatus used for titration should be perfectly clean .
Care should be taken to ensure that there is no leakage of
liquid through the stopcock .
Hot solutions should never be taken in the pipette or burette.
Air bubbles inside the pipette or burette should be avoided .
Titration should be carried out very slowly dropwise towards
the end point
We should avoid parallax error while reading the pipette or
burette.
Theory of acid base titration
• The reaction between an acid and a base results in the formation of
salt and water. This is what we call us a neutralization reaction .
• for example when oxalic acid reacts with NaOH , we get sodium
oxalate and water .
• This can be written in the form of an equation .
• Such reactions between acids and bases are used in volumetric
analysis to determine the strength of either of them usually one of
the above is prepared as a standard solution and extracted against
the other .
• this type of reactions are also known as acidimetry- alkalimetry or
Acid base titrations.
• The endpoints of such reactions are usually shown by the change in
color of the indicator the common indicators used are
phenolphthalein, methyl orange methyl red etc .
Questions?
• What will we be writing for the exam ?
• This is a checklist
• Aim :
• Balanced chemical equation :
• Weight of oxalic acid to be weighed for M/20 standard solution:
•