The purpose of this lab is to determine the concentration of an unknown monoprotic acid solution by titrating it with a standardized base solution.
The materials needed for this lab include a burette, pipette, standardized base solution (such as NaOH), indicator solution (such as phenolphthalein), beakers, and the unknown acid solution.
The process involves using a burette to add the standardized base solution to a known volume of the unknown acid solution until the endpoint is reached. The endpoint is determined by a color change in the solution, indicated by the addition of the indicator solution. The volume of base solution used to reach the endpoint is then used to calculate the concentration of the unknown acid solution.
A monoprotic acid is an acid that can donate only one proton (H+) per molecule. This makes it easier to determine the concentration of the acid solution, as each mole of acid will require one mole of base to reach the endpoint.
Potential sources of error in this lab include inaccurate measurements of the base and acid solutions, incorrect reading of the burette, and not properly calibrating the burette before use. Other factors such as temperature changes and impurities in the solutions can also affect the accuracy of the results.