An Investigation Into The Neutralisation Of Acids

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An Investigation Into The Neutralisation Of Acids

Introduction

Neutralisation is when you make a acidic or alkaline substance neutral by adding the other to it. Whatever the substance, when you neutralise it, a salt is always formed. I will be trying to find out the stronger out of a variety of Acids and place them into a rank order from strongest to weakest using neutralisation.

Research

        Acids is the name given to substances that have a pH value lower than 7. As the pH gets lower, the more acidic the substance gets. Acids react with most metals to produce hydrogen and form a salt. The salt forms because the metal takes the place of the hydrogen in the acid e.g. Sodium Nitrate.

        Acids are caused by the amount of H+ (hydrogen) ions contained, the more H+ ions then the lower pH and the stronger the acid is. This is because there are more H+ ions to react. Different acids have different H+ concentrations so if you have two acids of the same concentration it does not mean they will be the same strength.

Alkalis refer to substances that have a pH over 7 and soluble in water. Alkalis are similar to acids but have OH- (hydroxide) ions instead.

Neutral substances have a pH of exactly 7. Distilled water is neutral.

Apparatus

        I will need the following for my experiments:

  • Beaker
  • Test Tubes and Rack
  • Datameter
  • pH probe
  • Temp. probe
  • Universal Indicator
  • Measuring Cylinder
  • Stopwatch
  • Goggles

Chemicals

        The chemicals I will use in my experiment are as follows:

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        Acids-        Sulphuric                        1.0M                H2SO4

                        Hydrochloric                1.0M                HCl

                        Ethanoic                        1.0M                CH3COOH

                        Nitric                                1.0M                HNO3

        Alkalis-        Sodium Hydroxide                1.0M                NaOH

Method

        I will put 30cm3 of NaOH into a beaker, as this is a reasonable amount suitable to use in the laboratory, and record its starting temperature (should be room temperature) and pH and add a few drops of Universal Indicator so I can monitor the pH change visually. At intervals of 20 seconds, chosen to allow the acid and alkali enough time to react, I will add 5cm3 of an acid to the NaOH until the total acid added exceeds 30cm3. The reason I use 5cm3 is because ...

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