Should Baking Soda and Antacids Have the Same Acid-Neutralizing Effect

[!Live_4Ever!]

Hey everyone =)
I am nearing my completion of the chemistry unit, and I have to do a huge lab report before I write my unit test..
For the lab basically, we are comparing acid-neutralizing capabilities of baking soda and antacid substances. We are going to..
- mix measured amounts of baking soda and hydrochloric acid
- React a measured mass of antacids into some hydrochloric acid
- and compare the acid-neutralzing effectiveness of baking soda and antacids.
My million dollar question is...should the acid-neutralizing effects of baking soda and antacids be same or not...
Thanks for reading my pesky question...

 

[Ouabache]

That is a good question. I think this is the fun part of your experiment. To follow good scientific method, record your data, analyze it and see for yourself whether one neutralizes more than the other and if so, by how much..

 

[Cesium]

I think he needs to formulate a hypothesis. I have some ideas, but I'm wondering: Are you using the same mass of the antacid and the baking soda or the same amount of moles? And do you know the chemical composition of the anatacid you are using?

 

[!Live_4Ever!]

Nope.. sorry.. My "Chemistry manual" aint that rich in details... I am unsure of the chemical formula of the Antacid, and the moles of the substances used.

Basically, we are pouring either baking soda or antacids until the hydrochloric acids become neutral.. If the acid-nentrualizing ability is the same between Baking soda and the antacid, I suppose the mass should be the same.. but what I just wrote aint enough to form a hypothesis... =(

 

[Cesium]

Well what I would do is see which one theoretically would take more mass to neutralize the HCl. The more mass, the less efficient it is at neutralization.

Found a list of common antacids:
Aluminium hydroxide (Amphojel®, AlternaGEL®)
Magnesium hydroxide (Phillips’® Milk of Magnesia)
Aluminium hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide (Maalox®, Mylanta®)
Aluminium carbonate gel (Basajel®)
Calcium carbonate (Tums®, Titralac®, Calcium Rich Rolaids®)
Sodium bicarbonate (Bicarbonate of soda)- Lol tell them that NaHCO3 is an antacid itself!
Hydrotalcite (Mg6Al2(CO3)(OH)16 · 4(H2O); Talcid®)

Well let's say you're using Mg(OH)2 as it's quite commonly used.

NaHCO3 + HCl --> NaCl + H2O + CO2
1 mole NaHCO3 needed per 1 mole HCl

Let's take Mg(OH)2 as an example as I know it's a common one:
Mg(OH)2 + 2HCl --> MgCl2 +2H2O
1 mole Mg(OH)2 needed per 2 mole HCl

So if you're going on a strictly molar bases (which I doubt- not really practicle in the real world) your answer would be the anatacid because it can neutralize 2 moles HCl and baking soda can only do 1 per mole.

Figure this out per gram using molar masses and I think you've got a hypothesis.

A key point that I just thought off...is your antacid in solution? If yes, then your answer would definently be baking soda as you would need a large volume of antacid (water would dilute effect) to neutralize HCl.

In your hypothesis just say that it depends upon what type of antacid is used and in what form the antacid is in!

 

[!Live_4Ever!]

omg...I am so pissed at myself
the antacid is a 2.0Mol/L HCI...

lolz thanks a bunch there bud.. It'll take me some time to process it through my Pentium-1 brain..=)

 

[Cesium]

...that's all the info you need right there