Baking Soda Purity Control Lab

Nathan Nguyen
Ema Condori-Teves
Morgan Kelley
2/11/2018
Academy for Math, Engineering & Science

Introduction
 Baking soda is a common product used in everyday lives, it can be used in products such

as hand soap, fire extinguishers, household cleanser, cooking, etc. It is an important task to be

able to determine how pure or impure the solution of baking soda is. Also being able to test what

chemical natures arise while trying to create the compound is what the company wants. In this

experiment, the possible contaminants of the baking soda, which could involve: CaCl2, KCL, or

LiCl, will be determined experimentally.

The experiment that will be performed is for the Athenium Baking Soda Company. In

this experiment, it will be determined whether impurities are present in a sample, and if there are

impurities, they will be identified and determined experimentally. This experiment will also done

to figure out what other chemicals natures are produced and if any impurities should surface

from the baking sample.

One technique that will be used this experiment is Thermal Gravimetric Analysis. The

thermal gravimetric analysis will be used to determine the percent mass of a component in the

mixture. The way that the technique works is by taking the initial mass of a substance, or in this

case, baking soda, and heating it, finally taking its final mass and analyzing the results. Heating

the baking soda will transform it into sodium carbonate, water, and carbon dioxide gas. If the

solution is pure, then the calculated mass percent should be close to 100%, if it is not, or is even

a little bit off from 100%, then impurities will be part of the baking soda created by the company.

Another method that will be used in this experiment is emission spectroscopy. The

emissions spectroscopy would be used to determine what kind of impurities are in these baking

soda samples. Emission spectroscopy will detect metal ions present in the solution. If the

solution contains a chemical species, that specific chemical will absorb a specific wavelength of

light. The amount of light absorbed is directly proportional to the concentration of the metal ion
in the solution, so the absorption spectroscopy will graph the exact wavelength of the chemical

present in the solution, and that wavelength can be compared to the three possible chemicals

absorption spectroscopy graphs. The samples tested for will include CaCl2, KCl, and LiCl.

The last method of checking the purity of baking soda is by performing a titration. A

company produced sodium carbonate sample solution will be titrated using HCl which would be

added to neutralize the sample. Performing this titration will allow the concentration of the

substance to be determined. This method uses the equivalence point to determine the molarity of

NaHCO3. This titration will be done by adding an acid of known concentration to then titrate the

baking soda sample. The other part of this is that the mass of acetic acid must be used with the

mass of NaHCO3 to calculate the mass percent of the NaHCO3. If this does not match with the

mass of NaHCO3 then there are impurities within the solution.

Materials

● Sodium Carbonate(solid primary ● MeasureNet pH probe and drop

base) counter

● Baking soda(mixture) ● Volumetric flasks

● About 1.0 M hydrochloric acid ● Beral pipets

solution ● Kimwipes

● 0.1 M Calcium chloride solution ● Crucible and lid

● 0.1 M Potassium chloride solution ● 250 ml Beaker

● 0.1 M Lithium chloride solution ● Bunsen burner

● MeasureNet Spectrophotometer ● Watch Glass

● nichrome wires
Experimental

The first part of the lab is the thermal gravimetric analysis to figure out the impurities in

the baking soda. To do this a crucible and lid must first be obtained along with an electric

heating source. The mass of the crucible and lid must first be taken. Then about a gram of baking

soda should be added to the crucible and the mass should be calculated accordingly. The crucible

with the baking soda should be heated at about 250 degrees celsius for anywhere between five to

ten minutes and then removed from heat and allowed to cool. Once cool, the mass should be

taken again, if the mass is not within 0.005 grams from the initial mass calculated, then the

heating process will have to be repeated until it is. Once the mass is within its parameters, the

final mass should be recorded and a second trial of this experiment should be performed.

The second part of the procedure is emissions, which is used to figure what kind of

impurities or contaminants are in the baking soda. The usage of the 1.0 M of the solutions

CaCL2, KCl, and LiCl would give a good example of what can exist in the baking soda sample.

These solutions emission graphs would be compared to the sample graph, if there are spikes in

the sample graph that are similar, then the impurities can be easily determined. This can be done

by first setting up the bunsen burner and the measurenet spectrophotometer. Then create a baking

soda sample solution to be tested by completely dissolving 1 gram of baking soda into 25 mL of

distilled water in a beaker. Solution of CaCl2, KCl, and LiCl should be set up too. Then set up

and calibrate the measurenet to record. Once ready to record, pour some of the baking soda

mixture into a watch glass and heat up the corresponding nichrome wire on the bunsen burners

flames until it is glowing red. Once glowing red, press start on the measurenet and place the wire

into the watch glass that properly placed on the bunsen burner, this should produce a graph of the
wavelength of the ion(s) in the baking soda solution. Repeat this step with the three controls so

that the graphs can later be compared to determine the unknown in the baking soda solution.

The last part of the procedure would be titration. This would be used to determine the

amount of the impurities. Other solutions such as HCl would also to be added to neutralize the

substance or sample. This would also show what impurities there are. First, a 50 mL buret must

be obtained along with a stirring bar, a 250 mL beaker, Sodium Carbonate, a pH probe, and the

measurnet drop counter. Approximately 1 gram of sodium carbonate should be weighed placed

into the 250 mL beaker along with a sufficient amount of water to dissolve the sodium carbonate

and submerge the pH probe in. The volume should be recorded. Place the stir bar into the

solution and set up the buret, measurenet drop counter, and pH probe for the titration. Making

sure the tip of the buret is fully closed, fill it with the 1.0 M HCl solution. Record the volume.

Set up the Measurenet system. Place the pH probe in to 7.00 pH buffer solution and calibrate the

measurenet accordingly. Once the measurenet is calibrated and ready to graph, place the pH

probe into the baking soda solution making sure it is completely submerged. Turn on the

magnetic stir bar on low. Press start on the measurement to start graphing the data and slowly

open the buret so that the drop reader can accurately read each drop. When the pH levels off, the

titration is over and the graph should be recorded.Record the final volume of the HCl and repeat

all the steps from above but with the baking soda sample instead of the sodium carbonate.

Results

Thermal Gravimetric Analysis: Titration:

Trial 1 Trial 1:
Initial: 0.997 g PH= 4.2
 Final: 0.675 g drops=247

Trial 2: Trial 2:
Initial: 1.247 g PH=4.02
Final: 0.9 g volume= 17.5 ml

Bibliography
Stanton, B., Zhu, L., & Atwood, C. H. (2010). Experiments in general chemistry featuring
measurenet: guided inquiry, self-directed, and capstone. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage
Learning.