Name: ______________________________________

Date: ________________________

Student Exploration: Titration

Vocabulary: acid, analyte, base, dissociate, equivalence point, indicator, litmus paper, molarity,
neutralize, pH, strong acid, strong base, titrant, titration, titration curve, weak acid, weak base

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

There are several definitions of acids and bases. According to the
Brnsted-Lowry definition, an acid is a substance that is capable of
donating a proton to another substance. A base is a substance that
accepts protons. When an acid and a base are combined, the acid is
neutralized as the base accepts the protons produced by the acid.
One way to determine if a solution is acidic or basic is to use litmus paper, as shown above.
There are two types of litmus papers: red and blue.
How does litmus paper indicate an acid? ___________________________________________
How does litmus paper indicate a neutral substance? _________________________________
How does litmus paper indicate a base? ____________________________________________

Gizmo Warm-up
Litmus is an example of an indicator, a substance that changes
color depending on its pH (pH is a measure of the concentration of
protons, or H+ ions). In the Titration Gizmo, you will use indicators
to show how acids are neutralized by bases, and vice versa.
To begin, check that 1.00 M NaOH is selected for the Burette,
Mystery HBr is selected for the Flask, and Bromthymol blue is
selected for the Indicator.
1. Look at the flask. What is the color of the bromthymol blue indicator? __________________

2. What does this tell you about the pH of the solution in the flask? ______________________
Solutions with a pH below 7.0 are acidic, while those with a pH above 7.0 are basic.

3. Move the slider on the burette to the top to add about 25 mL of NaOH to the flask. What
happens, and what does this tell you about the pH of the flask?
_________________________________________________________________________

Get the Gizmo ready:

Activity A:
Acids and bases

Click Reset. Select 1.0 M HNO3 for the Burette

and Mystery NaOH for the Flask.
Select Phenolphthalein for the Indicator.
You will need a scientific calculator for this activity.

Introduction: When most acids dissolve in water, they dissociate into ions. For example, nitric
acid (HNO3) dissociates into H+ and NO3 ions.
Question: How do acids and bases interact in solution?
1. Calculate: Concentration is measured by molarity (M), or moles per liter. Brackets are also
used to symbolize molarity. For example, if 0.6 moles of HNO3 are dissolved in a liter of
water, you would say [HNO3] = 0.6 M.
A. Because HNO3 is a strong acid, it dissociates almost completely in water. That
means the concentration of H+ is very nearly equal to that of HNO3.
What is [H+] if [HNO3] is 0.01 M? _________
B. The pH of a solution is equal to the negative log of H+ concentration: pH = log[H+]
What is the pH of this solution? (Use the log button on your calculator.) _________
C. What is the pH of a 0.6 M HNO3 solution? _________

2. Describe: The equation for the reaction of nitric acid (HNO3) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
is shown on the bottom right of the Gizmo.
A. What are the reactants in this reaction? ___________________________________
B. What are the products of this reaction? ____________________________________

3. Measure: A titration can be used to determine the concentration of an acid or base by

measuring the amount of a solution with a known concentration, called the titrant, which
reacts completely with a solution of unknown concentration, called the analyte. The point at
which this occurs is called the equivalence point.
Carefully add HNO3 into the flask until the phenolphthalein begins to lose its color. Stop
adding HNO3 when the color change is permanent.
A. How much (HNO3) was required to cause the indicator to change color? __________
B. What can you say about the pH before and after the last drop of HNO3 was added?
___________________________________________________________________
(Activity A continued on next page)

Activity A (continued from previous page)

4. Explore: Click Reset and change the indicator to Bromthymol blue. Add exactly 8.8 mL of
HNO3 to the flask.
A. What does the color of the indicator tell you about the current pH of the flask?
___________________________________________________________________
B. Add one more drop of HNO3. What does the color tell you about the pH now?
___________________________________________________________________
C. If you combine the results of this question with the results from question 3B, what do
you know about the total pH change caused by adding the last 0.1 mL of HNO3?
___________________________________________________________________

5. Apply: Water has a pH of 7. If 0.1 mL (about one drop) of 1.0 M HNO3 is added to 100 mL of
water, the result is a solution with a concentration of 0.001 M HNO3.
A. What is the pH of 0.001 M HNO3? __________
B. How much did one drop of HNO3 cause the pH of water to change? _____________
C. How does this relate to what you determined in question 4C? __________________
___________________________________________________________________

6. Explain: A titration curve is a graph of pH vs. volume

of titrant. The graph at right shows a typical titration
curve for the titration of a strong acid by a strong
base. (A strong base is one that has relatively high
dissociation in water.)
A. How would you describe the shape of the
titration curve? _________________________
_____________________________________

Volume titrant (mL)

_____________________________________
B. Why do you think the titration curve has the shape it has? _____________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

Activity B:
Determining
concentration

Get the Gizmo ready:

Click Reset. Select 1.00 M NaOH for the Burette
and Mystery H2SO4 for the Flask.
Select Bromthymol blue for the Indicator.

Introduction: Adding a drop of strong acid or base into a neutralized solution is similar to
adding a drop of strong acid or base to waterit causes an abrupt change in pH. By using an
appropriate indicator, a chemist can tell when a solution is neutralized by monitoring its color.
Question: How is titration used to determine an unknown concentration?
1. Measure: Titrate the sulfuric acid analyte (H2SO4) with the sodium hydroxide titrant (NaOH).
How much 1.00 M NaOH is needed to neutralize the H2SO4 solution? __________________

2. Interpret: The balanced equation for the reaction of HBr and NaOH is given at bottom right.
Based on this equation, how many moles of NaOH react with 1 mole of H2SO4? __________

3. Manipulate: Recall that molarity is equal to the number of moles of a substance dissolved in
one liter of solution: molarity = moles volume.
A. Write an equation for determining the number of moles of NaOH that are added to
the flask based on [NaOH] and volume of NaOH titrant (mL NaOH):
Moles NaOH =
B. Write a similar expression for the number of moles of H2SO4 in the flask based on
[H2SO4] and the volume of H2SO4 (mL).
Moles H2SO4 =
C. Because there are twice as many moles of NaOH as moles of H2SO4 in this reaction,
you can say:
Moles NaOH = 2 Moles H2SO4
Substitute your expressions from 3A and 3B into this equation and solve for [H2SO4]:

D. Now calculate [H2SO4] based on the data from the Gizmo. [H2SO4] = ___________
(Activity B continued on next page)

Activity B (continued from previous page)

4. Calculate: Select the Worksheet tab. This tab helps you calculate the analyte concentration.

Fill in the first set of boxes (moles H2SO4 and moles NaOH) based on the
coefficients in the balanced equation. (If there is no coefficient, the value is 1.)

Record the appropriate volumes in the mL NaOH and mL H2SO4 boxes.

Record the concentration of the titrant in the M NaOH box.

Click Calculate. What is the concentration listed? ___________________________

Click Check. Is this the correct concentration? ___________________________
If you get an error message, revise your work until you get a correct value. (You may have
to redo the titration if you do not have the correct volume of titrant.)

5. Practice: Perform the following titrations and determine the concentrations of the following
solutions. In each experiment, list the volume of titrant needed to neutralize the analyte and
the indicator used. Use the Worksheet tab of the Gizmo to calculate each analyte
concentration. Include all units.
Titrant

Analyte

0.70 M KOH

HBr

0.50 M HCl

Ca(OH)2

0.80 M H2SO4

NaOH

Indicator

Titrant volume

Analyte
concentration

6. Apply: Once you know the concentration of a strong acid or a strong base, you can estimate
its pH. Use pH = log10[H+] to calculate the pH of each of the strong acid mystery solutions
(Mystery HBr and Mystery H2SO4) based on the concentrations you determined in
questions 4 and 5. Check your answers with the Gizmo. (Because dissociation is not always
complete, your answers may vary slightly from values in the Gizmo.)
[H2SO4] = _____

pH H2SO4 = _____

[HBr] = _____

pH HBr = _____

7. Apply: For a strong base, the concentration of hydroxide ions [OH] is roughly estimated to
be the same as the concentration of the base. The pH of a strong base is found with the
equation pH = 14 + log10[OH]. Based on their concentrations, find the pH of each of the
strong bases. Check your answers with the Gizmo.
[Ca(OH)2] = _____

pH Ca(OH)2 = _____

[NaOH] = _____

pH NaOH = _____

Activity C:
Weak acids and
bases

Get the Gizmo ready:

Click Reset.
Select 1.00 M NaOH for the Burette and Mystery
CH3COOH for the Flask.

Introduction: Unlike strong acids and bases, weak acids and weak bases dissociate relatively
little in water. Some ions are formed, but the remaining molecules remain whole. As a result, the
pH of a weak acid or base is closer to neutral than the pH of a strong acid or base.
When weak acids or bases react with strong bases or acids, the resulting salts often act as
bases or acids themselves, causing the pH at the equivalence point to vary from 7.0. This can
impact your choice of indicator.
Question: What happens when weak acids and bases are titrated?
1. Gather data: For each indicator given in the Gizmo, what is the pH range over which it
changes color?
Bromthymol blue: _________

Methyl orange: _________

Phenolphthalein: _________

2. Interpret: The salt produced by the reaction of acetic acid and sodium hydroxide,
CH3COONa, is a weak base. As a result, the pH of the equivalence point is slightly basic.
The titration curve for this reaction is shown below:

Volume NaOH

A. Why is methyl orange not a good indicator to use for this titration? ______________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
B. What would be a better indicator to use, and why? ___________________________
___________________________________________________________________
(Activity C continued on next page)

Activity C (continued from previous page)

3. Experiment: Perform two titrations, the first using methyl orange as an indicator and the
second using phenolphthalein as an indicator. Record the volume required to reach a color
change with each indicator:
Volume NaOH (methyl orange): ________

Volume NaOH (phenolphthalein): ________

A. Why did you get such different results with each indicator? ____________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
B. Which value would you use to calculate the acetic acid concentration, and why?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

4. Infer: The salt produced by the reaction of a weak base and a strong acid is acidic.
A. Based on this fact, what can you say about the equivalence point of this reaction?
___________________________________________________________________
B. Which indicator would you use for a titration of a weak base such as NH3? Explain.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

5. Calculate: Use the Gizmo to find the concentration of the Mystery CH3COOH and the
Mystery NH3. List the titrant and indicator you used for each titration.
Titrant

Analyte

Indicator

Titrant volume

Analyte
concentration

CH3COOH
NH3

6. On your own: If you like, you can continue to practice titration calculations by selecting
Random for the Flask. Click New to change the analyte. Record your results on a separate
sheet of paper.