Titration Curve Practice: Weak Acid Vs Strong Base
A titration was carried out by adding 0.140 mol dm -3
NaOH to 20.0cm3 of 0.175 mol dm-3 of HCOOH.
pKa(HCOOH) = 3.74
Write 3 balanced equations:
1. NaOH reacting with HCOOH (relevant to
sections 2-4):
NaOH + HCOOH H2O + HCOONa
OR OH- + HCOOH H2O + HCOO-
2. HCOOH dissociating (relevant to section
HCOOH + H2O ⇋ HCOO- + H3O+
1)
3. HCOO- dissociating (relevant to section
HCOO- + H2O ⇋ HCOOH + OH-
4):
Point in Titration Species Calculate the pH at the points given.
present in
order of
concentratio
n
1. Before NaOH 1. HCOOH [HCOOH] = 0.175 mol dm-3
added 2. HCOO- = Ka = 10-3.74 = [H3O+][ HCOO-]/[HCOOH]
H3O+ Let x = [H3O+] = [HCOO-]
3. OH- (assuming that the concentration of HCOOH
did not change when it dissociated because it
is a WA)
10-3.74 = x2/0.175
[H3O+] = x = √(10-3.74 x 0.175) = 0.005643 mol dm-3
pH = -log(0.005643) = 2.25
2. When 12.5cm3 1. HCOOH = At half equivalence, pH = pKa
of NaOH is added HCOO- = Na+ pH = 3.74
(Half equivalence) 2. H3O+
3. OH-
3. When 13.5cm3 1. HCOO- = 13.5/25 of the HCOOH has reacted to form HCOO -
of NaOH is added Na+ 11.5/25 of the HCOOH remains
2. HCOOH The volume has increased from 20mL to 33.5mL,
3. H3O+ which means both HCOOH and HCOO- have been
4. OH- diluted by a factor of 20/33.5
[HCOOH] = 0.175 x (11.5/25) x (20/33.5) = 0.0481
[Link]-3
[HCOO-] = 0.175 x (13.5/25) x (20/33.5) = 0.0564
[Link]-3
10-3.74 = [H3O+][ HCOO-]/[HCOOH]
[H3O+] = (10-3.74 x 0.0481) / 0.0564 = 0.000155
pH = -log(0.000155) = 3.81
Note: You can’t assume that HCOO- and H3O+
are equal in this situation, because HCOO- forms
in 2 reactions (dissociation & neutralisation) and
H3O+only forms in one reaction.
Note 2: There is a much faster way to solve this.
Look at the answer to the equivalent question
1
on page 3.
-
4. Equivalence 1. HCOO = At equivalence, all of the HCOOH and NaOH have
point Na+ reacted. The dominant species is HCOO - (conjugate
2. HCOOH = base of HCOOH), which dissociates to form HCOOH
OH- and OH-
3. H3O+ [HCOO-] = original [HCOOH] x dilution factor
[HCOO-] = 0.175 x 20/45 = 0.07778 [Link]-3
HCOO- is a weak base so we use pKb
pKb = 14 – 3.74 = 10.26
Kb = [HCOOH][OH-]/[HCOO-]
(assuming that the concentration of HCOO - did not
change when it dissociated because it is a WB)
x = [OH-] = [HCOOH]
10-10.26 = x2 / 0.07778
x = [OH-] = √(10-10.26 x 0.07778) = 2.067 x 10-6
pOH = -log (2.658 x 10-5) = 5.68
pH = 14 – 4.58 = 8.31
5. When 40.0cm3 1. Na+ This is just a diluted NaOH solution. There is also the
of NaOH is added 2. HCOO- weak base HCOO- in there, but NaOH is so much
(Past equivalence) 3. OH- stronger that HCOO- won’t actually impact the pH
4. HCOOH Original [OH-] = 0.140 mol dm-3
5. H3O+ The NaOH has been diluted by a factor of 15/60
(20cm3 of acid, 25 cm3 of NaOH that got neutralised,
15 cm3 of NaOH that didn’t get neutralised)
[OH-] = 0.140 x 15/60 = 0.0350 mol dm-3
pOH = -log(0.0350) = 1.46
pH = 14 – 1.46 = 12.5
2
Titration Curve Practice: Weak Base Vs Strong Acid
A titration was carried out by adding 0.280 moldm -3 HCl to 25.0cm3 of 0.224 moldm-3 of
CH3COONa.
pKa(CH3COOH) = 4.76
Write 3 balanced equations:
1. HCl reacting with CH3COO- (relevant to
sections 2-4):
HCl(aq) + CH3COO-(aq) CH3COOH(aq) + Cl-(aq)
2. CH3COO- dissociating (relevant to section
CH3COO-(aq) + H2O(l) ⇋ CH3COOH(aq) + OH-(aq)
1)
3. CH3COOH dissociating (relevant to section
CH3COOH(aq) + H2O(l) ⇋ CH3COO-(aq) + H3O+(aq)
4):
Point in Titration Species present in Calculate the pH at the points given.
order of
concentration
1. Before NaOH 1. CH3COO- [CH3COO-] = 0.224 mol dm-3
added 2. CH3COOH = OH- pKb = 14 – 4.76 = 9.24
3. H3O+ Kb = 10-9.24 = [CH3COOH][OH-]/[ CH3COO-]
Let x = [OH-] = [CH3COOH]
(assuming that [CH3COO-] did not
change when it dissociated because
it’s a WB)
10-9.24 = x2/0.224
x = [OH-] = √(10-9.24 x 0.224) = 1.14 x 10-5
mol dm-3
pOH = -log(1.14 x 10-5) = 4.94
pH = 14 – 4.95 = 9.06
2. When 10.0 cm3 1. CH3COO- = At half equivalence, pH = pKa
of NaOH is added CH3COOH = Cl- pH = 4.76
(Half equivalence) 2. H3O+
3. OH-
3. When 11.0 cm3 1. CH3COOH = Cl- 11.0/20 of the CH3COO- has reacted to
of NaOH is added 2. CH3COO- form CH3COOH
3. H3O+ 9.0/20 of the CH3COO- remains
4. OH- pH = pKa + log10([A–]/[HA])
pH = 4.76 + log10(9/11)
pH = 4.67
You can use the Henderson–
Hasselbalch equation for Buffer zones
(between the start and the
equivalence point). You don’t need to
calculate the acid or base
concentrations, you just need to
know the ratio between them.
We could have done this for the
NaOH/HCOOH question as well, but I did it
the long way for fun.
4. Equivalence 1. CH3COOH = Cl- At equivalence, all of the CH3COO- and HCl
3
point 2. CH3COO- = H3O+ have reacted. The dominant species is
3. OH- CH3COOH (conjugate acid of CH3COO-),
which dissociates to form CH3COO- and
H3O+
[CH3COOH] = original [CH3COO-] x dilution
factor
[CH3COOH] = 0.2224 x 25/45 = 0.124
[Link]-3
CH3COOH is a weak acid so we use pK a
10-4.76 = [CH3COO-][ H3O+]/[ CH3COOH]
(assuming that [CH3COOH] did not change
when it dissociated because it is a WA)
x = [H3O+] = [CH3COO-]
10-4.76 = x2 / 0.124
x = [H3O+] = √(10-4.76 x 0.124) = 0.001471
pH = -log (0.001471) = 2.83
5. When 25.0cm3 1. Cl- We are going to assume this is a diluted
of NaOH is added 2. CH3COOH HCl solution. There is also the weak acid
(Past equivalence) 3. H3O+ CH3COOH in there, but HCl is so much
4. CH3COO- stronger that CH3COOH won’t impact the
5. OH- pH too much.
Original [HCl] = 0.280 mol dm-3
The NaOH has been diluted by a factor of
5/50 (25cm3 of CH3COO-, 20 cm3 of HCl
that got neutralised, 5 cm3 of HCl that
didn’t get neutralised)
[H3O+] = 0.280 x (5/50) = 0.0280 mol
dm-3
pH = -log(0.0280) = 1.55
Ethanoic acid is a much stronger acid
than methanoate is a base, so this
assumption is not as valid as in the
first part.