Fifth Form Chemistry Practical 2006-06-28

AI MM Estimation of Concentration of EY 2015

Ethanoic Acid in Vinegar
Vinegar is a sour tasting liquid consisting mainly of the monobasic acid, CH 3COOH ethanoic acid, and water and
obtained by the fermentation of carbohydrates past the alcohol stage usually by the action of bacteria and/or by aeration
of the ethanol first formed in fermentation. Commercial samples available to the everyday consumer are
commonly sold as 5% acetic acid . This means that there are 5g of ethanoic acid in every
100cm3 of vinegar.

Today you will have the exciting opportunity to verify the accuracy of one such commercial sample by
titrating a carefully diluted sample of the original with standard sodium hydroxide.

The sample of vinegar has been diluted by taking 100cm3 of the purchased product and making it up to a
total volume of 1000cm3 with distilled water in a volumetric flask.
The sodium hydroxide has been accurately standardised to contain 3.30g of sodium hydroxide per dm3 of
solution.
Procedure:
Pipette 25cm3 of the diluted vinegar supplied into a conical flask. Add two drops of phenolphthalein indicator.
Carefully fill the burette with sodium hydroxide making sure to expel any air bubbles present in the burette.
Check the tip especially for air bubbles. Afterwards make sure that the meniscus sits on the zero mark. Run in
the alkali from the burette with constant swirling of the flask and contents until the addition of one drop
gives a permanent pink end point.Read your burette to the nearest 0.05cm3. Record all your readings in the
table below.Repeat the titration as many times as is necessary to give consistent results.
Results:

Table of Burette Readings

Titration No. Rough 1 2 3

Final Reading/cm3

Initial Reading/cm3

Volume Used

[10]
Tick the burette readings to be used in your calculation of the average accurate burette readings

.cm3 [2]

Questions:
1.Write the equation for the reaction between ethanoic acid and sodium hydroxide. [2]

2. Calculate the molar concentration of the sodium hydroxide

1
 . mol dm-3 [3]

3. Calculate the no. of moles of alkali in 25cm3

[2]
4. Use your answer in 2. above and the equation to find the number of moles of acid in the (a)25cm3 of acid
and (b) in 1dm3 (c ) hence find the mass of acid in 100cm3 of the undiluted vinegar and thus the(d) %
concentration of the undiluted vinegar

(a)

(b)

(c)

[2] + [2] + [4] + [2]