1.
Discuss why there is a need to boil
distilled water in the preparation of
base solutions.
Carbon dioxide, a common gas in our
atmosphere, can dissolve and react in
water forming carbonic acid that can react
with basic reagents. By boiling distilled
water, the carbonic acid is converted back
into dissolved atmospheric carbon dioxide
which is then boiled off leaving water with
negligible acidity.
2. Discuss why a mixture of NaOH and
NaHCO3 is incompatible.
Sodium hydroxide and sodium bicarbonate
are incompatible in solutions since both
reagents may react with the bicarbonate
ion acting as an acid producing carbonate.
Components that react are not favorable
since their concentrations vary and are
very difficult to determine.
3. Discuss why there is a need to boil the
solution before reaching the methyl
orange endpoint.
This is to ensure a sharper endpoint since
the carbonic acid from the first endpoint
and atmospheric carbon dioxde can
interfere with the titration of the solution
by creating a carbonate/carbonic acid
buffer. Boiling the solution ensures that the
amount of carbonic acid and dissolved
carbon dioxide in the solution is kept to a
minimum.
4. Discuss the basic components of the
unknown soda ash sample based on the
volume relationship at the
phenolphthalein and methyl orange
endpoints.
The carbonate ion possesses two endpoints,
one at the phenolphthalein endpoint
signaling the conversion into bicarbonate
and another at the methyl orange endpoint
signaling the conversion of bicarbonate
into carbonic acid. The endpoints simply
approximate the presence of the
equivalence point. The volume of titrant
used at second equivalence point is twice
the volume used at the first equivalence
point. This is a consequence of the fact that
carbonate is a diprotic base, that is, it takes
1 equivalent of acid to completely
neutralize the carbonate into bicarbonate
and another 1 equivalent of acid to
neutralize the bicarbonate into carbonic
acid.
5. Discuss the possibility of using NaOH as
a primary standard for HCl and the
properties of an ideal primary standard.
Sodium hydroxide is not an appropriate
primary standard since it is very
hygroscopic and reactive. Moisture or
atmospheric carbon dioxide will react with
sodium hydroxide leading to a solution of
unknown concentration. For a substance to
be considered a possible primary standard,
it must be of high purity, solubility and
stability, low reactivity and also, it must
possess a large molecular weight.
6. Discuss the rationale behind not storing
basic solutions in volumetric glassware.
While glass is usually resistant to chemical
reactions, alkali reagents are capable of
attacking glass. Highly basic solutions,
especially solutions with a pH greater than
9 can react with the silicate in the glass,
exposing more layers susceptible to
corrosion. Since the accuracy of volumetric
glassware relies heavily on the specially
calibrated shape of the container, attacks
on the glass surface by alkalis can greatly
affect the volumes of future solutions
stored in the flask.
7. Discuss the possible sources of errors
and their effect on calculated
parameters.
The experiment is highly dependent on the
concentrations and volumes of the
reagents used. As such, errors in the
experiment can be attributed to variations
in the pH of the solution due to the
dissolution of carbon dioxide, minor
scratches in glassware and improper
volume readings. Also, errors in the
standardizations step will lead to
erroneous calculations on the
concentration of the analyte.
8. Discuss the cause of carbonate error and
its effect on the calculated values
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 obtained in standardization and sample
analysis.
Carbonate error arises from the dissolution
of carbon dioxide in an alkali solution
leading to a reduction in the pH of a basic
primary standard. The standardization
step is used to determine the concentration
of HCl, as such, the presence of carbonate
error would lead to a lower calculated
concentration since less HCl is needed to
neutralize the primary standard.
REFERENCES

Glass Corrosion. http://www.corrosion-

doctors.org/Household/Glass.htm (accessed
21 September 2015)

Cameron University. Fundamentals of Analytical

Chemistry.
http://www.cameron.edu/~keithv/theory/A
C_16.pdf (accessed 21 September 2015)

Hyperquad. Carbonate impurities and its effect on

titration curves.
http://www.hyperquad.co.uk/documents/C
arbonate%20impurity.pdf (accessed 21
September 2015)

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