Experiment 2 Virtual Lab Tutorial >> Acid Base Titration >> Summary of the Experiment

Experiment 2 Virtual Lab Tutorial: Acid Base Titration

Summary of the Experiment

In this experiment, your goal is to determine the concentration of an unknown hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution by volumetric analysis, in this case an acid base titration. The molar concentration of the unknown HCl will be determined in a titration with a sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution of known concentration. Since NaOH solution is not stable at room temperature, we must standardize it with a standard solution, before we are able to use it to determine the concentration of the unknown HCl. The standard solution used in this experiment is potassium hydrogen phthalate (C₈H₅O₄K, abbreviated KHP) which reacts with NaOH in 1:1 ratio.

The end goal of the experiment is achieved through the following 3 steps:

Step 1


Action: quantitatively prepare a standard solution of KHP at a desired concentration.
Result: the concentration of the standard solution will be known with 4 significant figures precision.

Step 2


Action: use the KHP solution to quantitatively determine the concentration of NaOH.
Result: the concentration of the NaOH solution will be known with 4 significant figures precision.

Step 3


Action: titrate the unknown HCl solution with the standardized NaOH.
Result: the concentration of the unknown HCl can be determined with 4 significant figures precision.

The following pages contain tutors to assist you in the calculations required for the above steps. Please click next to continue to the tutors.