Experiment : Examination Of Buffers

In this lab, the purpose was to determine the stability of a substance after adding an acid or a base. The results claim that liver and buffer are the most resistance to change in pH. Looking at figure 3, buffer and liver both maintain a stable pH even with the addition of an acid or base. However, potato and water have less buffer in them since their pHs did change. In figure 3, the potato acid’s pH level decreased by two, and the potato base’s pH level increased by two. The level of pH of a water acid decreased by 4, while the water base’s pH increased by 5. These results all tie to the fact that buffer is a substance that maintains a stable pH; the presence of buffer in organisms help maintain homeostasis by binding or releasing hydrogen

1. To prepare a standard solution of oxalic acid and use it to standardize an unknown  sodium hydroxide solution.

Introduction: This experiment is going to test the ability of antacids and how they absorb acid to see which is a better buffer. An antacid neutralizes acid, and this helps the most with heartburn. Heartburn is where stomach acid is regurgitated back into the esophagus, and this causes a burning feeling in the chest (Oxford University Press, 2017). A buffer is a source of hydroxide ions that can absorb hydrogen ions, which in turn keeps the pH stable (Mader, 2017). In this experiment, the different antacids that are being tested to absorb the hydrogen ions from stomach acid are the buffers. The pH scale helps determine how acidic or basic a solution

Beran, J. A. Laboratory Manual for Principles of General Chemistry. 8th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2009

The procedure of this lab is to determine if liver and potato cells contain natural buffers that resist large change in pH as 1. NaCl or 1. NaOH are added to the solution.

In 2 and 7 I added 50 mL of .1 M NaCl. I added sodium acetate to the rest of the beakers: 1 gram to 3 and 8, 5 grams to 4 and 9, and 10 grams to 5 and 10. I then filled the beakers that contained the solid sodium acetate with 50 ml of .10 M acetic acid. Specifics can be found on page 84 of the lab manual. Though the lab manual instructed to use a pipet, we did not have an accurate 1 mL pipet or a graduated pipet, so we instead prepared two graduated burets with 1 M Sodium Hydroxide and 1 M hydrochloric acid. Using a standardized pH probe with a Lab Pro to measure changes in pH, we added 1 mL of HCl at a time and recorded the changes. The same was done for the NaOH.

weak bases). After ranking the pH of these solutions, you will then test your predictions in the laboratory.

To start out this study the difference between acids and bases has to be identified. Acids have very low pHs and have a high concentration of hydronium ions, while bases have a high pH and have a high concentration of hydroxide ions. The difference between strong bases and acids, and weak bases and acids is the amount of dissociation. Strong bases and acids dissociate a large amount and let go of their ions in solution, while weak bases and acids may only let go of some of their ions. This is important because if the unknown solutions aren’t strong acids or bases then using their ions to calculate the pH of the solutions will give false results (Diffen 2012).

To improve the results from the experiment buffer solutions that were not whole pHs could have been used e.g. pH 4.5, 5.5 etc. This would have provided more reliable results as a wider range of results would have been produced. Using pHs with decimals would also help to more accurately determine the optimum pH as the optimum may have been above or below the pH stated in the hypothesis; 8. In this experiment however the optimum is taken at 8 because the graph does not rise again.

By using the pH paper to measure the solutions A through E it would point out what substance is an acid and which one was basic. Also, by adding Bromothymol blue and Phenolphthalein afterwards to the solution it would indicate what color it would turn to when mixed into an acid and a base.

To prevent fluctuation in the pH, a solution known as a “buffer solution” was used in the experiment. Buffer solutions are mixtures of at least two chemicals which counteract the effect of acids and alkalis. Therefore, when a small quantity of alkali or acid solution is added the pH of the enzyme doesn’t change.

CHE 133 Experiment 3, General Chemistry II Lab, Spring Quarter 2014-2015, DePaul University. [Online] https://www.d2l.depaul.edu (accessed April 25, 2015)

Koczanski, Krystyna; Xidos, James D. CHEM 1300 Laboratory Manual; UMSU Copy Centre: Winnipeg, MB, Canada, 2013, pp

The pH of a solution is the measure of the concentration of charged Hydrogen ions in that given solution. A solution with a pH lower than seven is considered to be acidic. A solution with a higher pH is a base. It is very important for organisms to maintain a stable pH. Biological molecules such as proteins function only at a certain pH level and any changes in pH can result in them not functioning properly. To maintain these constant pH levels, buffer solutions are used. A buffer solution can resist change to small additions of acids or base’s. A good buffer will have components that act like a base, and components that act like an acid.

First, three titration curves and three second derivative curves were created to determine the average pH at the half-equivalence point from the acetic acid titrations. Titration curves were used as visuals to portray buffer capacity. The graphs and a table, Table 1, that showcased the values collected were created and included below. The flat region, the middle part, of Figures 1, 2 and 3, showed the zone at which the addition of a base or acid did not cause changes in pH. Once surpassed, the pH increased rapidly when a small amount of base, NaOH, was added to the buffer solution. Using the figures below and