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09 - To Determine The PH of A Buffer Solution and To Investigate The Effect On The Addition of Small Amounts of Acid To The Buffer Mixture

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7 views

09 - To Determine The PH of A Buffer Solution and To Investigate The Effect On The Addition of Small Amounts of Acid To The Buffer Mixture

Uploaded by

Aisha Peters
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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T.A.

MARRYSHOW COMMUNITY COLLEGE


SCHOOL OF ARTS, SCIENCES AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS
CHEMISTRY

EXPERIMENT # ____

TITLE: Buffer Solutions.

AIM: To determine the pH of a buffer solution and to investigate the effect on the addition of small
amounts of acid to the buffer mixture.

INTRODUCTION/PRINCIPLE: A buffer solution is a solution, which resists changes in pH on


addition of small amounts acids or alkalis.
Buffer solutions have important applications in many industrial processes where pH changes
must not deviate very much from the optimum value.
Buffer solutions usually consist of:
1. a solution of a weak acid in the presence of one of its salts from a strong base e.g. acetic
acid and sodium acetate, or
2. a solution of a weak base in the presence of one of its salts from a strong acid e.g.
ammonia and ammonium chloride.
A buffer then, is usually a mixture of an acid (alkali) and its conjugate base (acid).
In order to understand buffer action, consider first the equilibrium between a weak acid, HA, and
its salt, MA.
The dissociation of the weak acid and its salt can be represented as:

The expression for dissociation constant of the acid, HA:


1. Ka = [H+ ] [ A- ]
[HA]
transposing,
2. [H+] = Ka x [HA]
[A-]
and taking log then,
3. log [H+] = log Ka + log [HA]
[A-]
Since -log [H+] = pH and -log Ka= pKa then substituting in equation 3, the pH of a buffer mixture is
given by the formula:
pH = pKa + log [A-]
[HA]
In this experiment you are provided with acetic acid and sodium acetate (a buffer mixture) to
prepare mixtures of different composition with a final volume of 20mL in each case, after which
you are required to measure the pH of the final mixture and to investigate which of the following
buffer mixture presents the best buffer action.

APPARATUS/MATERIALS: 50mL burettes, clamps, bosses, retort stands, small funnels, 100mL
beakers, boiling tubes with stoppers, bottle brush, pH meter, A – 0.2M acetic acid, B – 0.2M
sodium acetate, C – 0.1M hydrochloric acid.

PROCEDURE:
1. Prepare buffer mixture of different composition of acetic acid and sodium
acetate as shown in the table below, then measure and record the pH values
in this table. Do not discard the mixture.
2. To each of the buffer mixtures from step 1, add, from a burette, 1mL of 0.1M
HCl, stopper and shake gently for about 30 seconds, then record the pH
value of the mixture in the table.

pH of Theoretical
Sodium buffer Theoretical pH of buffer
Acetic pH of buffer
# acetate mixture pH of buffer mixture with
acid (mL) mixture
(mL) with 1mL of mixture 1mL of 0.1M
0.1M HCl HCl
1 19 1
2 18 2
3 16 4
4 14 6
5 12 8
6 10 10
7 8 12
8 6 14
9 4 16
10 2 18
11 1 19
QUESTIONS:
1. Calculate the theoretical value of pH and explain any differences in the
values obtained experimentally.
2. Calculate the theoretical pH value of the of buffer mixture with 1mL of 0.1M
HCl and explain any differences in the values obtained experimentally.
3. Write relevant equations to show how the pH changes in step 2 above are
resisted.
4. For the buffer mixture with the best buffer action, give all the necessary
explanation why this is so.
5. What are some of the applications of buffer mixtures in biological systems
and how do they work?

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