Acid-Base Titrations: Analysis of antacid tablets

Jethro Exequiel A. Sibayan

Jeff Herson B. Vida
De La Salle University-Dasmarias
Dasmarias, Cavite Philippines

ABSTRACT
The acid-base titrations activity demonstrated new technique of acid base titration.The indicator used in
this activity is phenolphthalein. It changes to a pink color when the endpoint of the titration is reached.
First you will dissolve the tablets in your HCl solution, adding enough of the acid to both dissolve the
tablets and react with all of the OH- ions it contains. Then you will titrate the resulting solution with your
sodium hydroxide solution to neutralize the excess HCl. By knowing the amount of HCl added and the
amount of NaOH needed to neutralize the acid, one can calculate how much OH- must have been in the
original tablet. To calculate the amount of OH- ion in the tablet, proceed as follows. First determine the
number of moles of acid added to the flask. Next determine the number of moles of hydroxide ion added
from the sodium hydroxide solution. Then find the difference in the two numbers. You should find that
there is an excess of acid (i.e., the amount of H+ was greater than the amount of OH-). This excess of
acid is the amount of acid that was neutralized by the antacid tablet, and hence corresponds to the
amount of OH- that was present in the tablet.

INTRODUCTION
A titration is a process used to determine the volume of a solution needed to react with a given
amount of another substance. The point at which the indicator changes color is called the end point. A
suitable indicator should be chosen, preferably one that will experience a change in color (an end point)
close to the equivalence point of the reaction. Quantitative studies of acid-base neutralization reactions
are most conveniently carried out using a technique known as titration. In titration, a solution of accurately
known concentration, called a standard solution, is added gradually to another solution of unknown
concentration, until the chemical reaction between the two solutions is complete. Sodium hydroxide is one
of the bases commonly used in the laboratory. However, it is difficult to obtain solid sodium hydroxide in a
pure form because it has a tendency to absorb water from air, and its solution reacts with carbon dioxide.
For these reasons, a solution of sodium hydroxide must be standardized before it can be used in accurate
analytical work. We can standardize the sodium hydroxide solution by titrating it against an acid solution
of accurately known concentration. NaOH is added into the solution until it reached the equivalence point,
that is, the point at which the acid has completely reacted with or been neutralized by the base. The
equivalence point is usually signaled by a sharp in the color of an indicator in the acid solution. In acidbase titrations, indicators are substances that have distinctly different colors in acidic and basic media.
One commonly used indicator is phenolphthalein, which is colorless in acidic and neutral solutions but
reddish pink in basic solutions.