Jose M Morenete

Conor Cleeton

February 6th

DETERMINATION OF A PHOSPHORIC ACID SOLUTION CONCENTRATION BY TWO

METHODS.
Background
The technical staff were asked to prepare a solution of phosphoric acid suitable for
reversing the toning of metal coins. They prepared a solution from an old bottle of
phosphoric acid, which was labelled as having a specific gravity of 1.75. They prepared a
50.0 solution using 340 of the phosphoric acid. However, they are concerned about the
purity of the phosphoric acid and dont know the exact concentration of the solution they
have prepared and they have asked that you determine the exact concentration of the
solution and hence calculate the purity of the old bottle of phosphoric acid. Confirm your
results by two separate experimental methods.
Phosphoric acid is a triprotic acid, therefore there are three different equilibria in its
dissociation equations. Each equilibria has its own Ka and pKa values. Therefore, on a
titration curve there are three points of inflexion, which is equivalent to three equivalence
points, as shown below:

Experimental Objective
In this experiment you will use a pH meter and appropriate pH indicators along materials
provided to determine the concentration of a solution of Phosphoric Acid used and therefore
calculate the purity of the phosphoric acid in the old bottle.
Experiment 1: Titration using a pH indicator.
Using a bulb pipette, transfer a 10.0 cm3 aliquot of the phosphoric
acid solution into conical flask and add 2-3 drops of Bromocresol
green indicator. Following the diagram below, fill a burette with
approximately 0.1M NaOH and titrate with the solution in the
conical flask until three concordant titres are obtained. The end
point of the titration is when the solution changes colour from
yellow toblue, at a pH of approximately 4.7.

Experiment 2: Titration using pH meter.

Collect a burette and fill it with approximately 0.1 M NaOH, and clamp it to a support, as
demonstrated in the diagram below. Open the stopcock to let the NaOH occupy the whole

Jose M Morenete
Conor Cleeton

February 6th

burette, doing so under a beaker to prevent spilling. Using a bulb pipette, transfer 10.0 cm3
of the phosphoric acid solution to a 250 cm3 beaker. Add 25 cm3 of deionised water to the
beaker. Insert a magnetic stirrer bar and gently stir the solution to
ensure the contents are mixed. Then, place the pH meter in contact
with the solution. Record the value of initial pH and volume of NaOh
added (0.0 cm3). Then, start adding NaOH to the beaker, and record
the pH every 1.0 cm3 until 9.0 cm3 of NaOH have been added. From
this point record the pH every 0.25 cm3 of NaOH, until the pH value
rapidly changes. When this happens, add 0.10 cm3 of NaOh until the
pH value change slows down. Return to adding 0.25 cm3 until 11.0
cm3 have been added, and finish off adding 1.0 cm3 , until
approximately 15.0 cm3 have been added.
Draw a graph of pH versus Volume of Titrant Added (cm3). From this
graph you will be able to determine the end-point of the titration, and thus calculate the
concentration of the phosphoric acid solution.

Discussion:

We can obtain the concentration of from finding the number of moles of NaOH that was
used and as it is a one to one molar ratio we know the number of moles of NaOH is the
same as the number of moles of . From that we can calculate the concentration of in the
sample used which is equal to mol/vol.