Lab #: 8
Date: 21/04/2023
Title: PD - Analysis of ethanoic acid
Problem: Aunt Mary who makes homemade vinegar boasts that her
vinegar contains a higher percentage of ethanoic acid than commercial
brands. Plan and design an experiment to test the validity of Aunt Mary’s
claim.
Hypothesis: Aunt Mary’s vinegar is better than the commercial vinegar
because it has a higher concentration of ethanoic acid.
Aim: To determine which vinegar out of the both vinegars has the higher
concentration by titrating it against sodium hydroxide.
Apparatus/Materials:
1.0 mol dm-3 NaOH, commercial vinegar, homemade vinegar, burette,
pipette, phenolphthalein indicator, dropper, three 250 cm3 conical flasks,
two 250 cm3 beakers, distilled water, retort stand, clamp, white tile.
Method:
1. 25 cm3 of NaOH(aq) will be measured using a pipette and then
transferred to a conical flask.
2. The burette will then be filled with the commercial vinegar(aq) of
unknown concentration up to 0 cm3 mark.
3. 2-3 drops of phenolphthalein indicator will be added to the NaOH(aq).
4. The commercial vinegar(aq) from the burette will then be allowed to
flow into the NaOH(aq) while carefully stirring the conical flask until the
first permanent colour change is seen.
5. The titre volume will be recorded.
6. Steps 1-5 will be repeated until the titre volumes are within +/-
0.10 cm3.
7. The average titre volume will be found and the concentration of
commercial vinegar will be calculated.
8. Steps 1-7 will be repeated using the homemade vinegar instead of the
commercial vinegar.
Variable:
Controlled variable:
1. Concentration of the NaOH
2. The volume of the NaOH
3. The number of drops of indicator used
4. Same type of indicator used throughout
Manipulated variable: The vinegar
Responding variable: Volume of ethanoic acid used to neutralize
the NaOH
Expected results:
Table showing results for the commercial vinegar:
Rough 123
Final V/cm3
Initial V/cm3
Titre V/cm3 A BCD
Table showing results for the homemade vinegar:
Rough 123
Final V/cm3
Initial V/cm3
Titre V/cm3
Treatment of results:
Calculations of the NaOH moles that were used:
1000 cm3 of NaOH = 1 mol
25 cm3 of NaOH = 1/1000 x 25
= 0.025
Deducing the mole ratio between the ethanoic acid and sodium
hydroxide using the chemical formula
NaOH(aq) + CH3COOH(aq) → CH3COONa(aq) + H2O(l)
This shows 1 mole of NaOH + 1 mole of CH3COOH = 1 mole of
CH3COONa + 1 mole of H2O which shows a 1:1 ratio
Now to calculate the concentration of the vinegar once the volume
is retrieved The commercial vinegar
X cm3 of CH3COOH = 0.025 moles
1000 cm3 of CH3COOH = 0.025/B x 1000
= Z mol/dm3
The calculation is repeated for the second vinegar sample.
If the homemade vinegar is better and has a higher concentration, then
the hypothesis would be proven true.
If the commercial vinegar is better and has a higher concentration, then
the hypothesis would be proven false.
Assumptions: The vinegar will contain no impurities (only water and
ethanoic acid) ensuring nothing else will react.
Precautions:
1. All measurements were taken at eye level to avoid parallax
error.
2. White tile was used to spot colour change
Sources of Errors:
1. Inaccurate volumes were
recorded.
2. Volumes may have been
overshot.
