CHEMISTRY LAB REPORT

Mouli Rajesh
 SARALA BIRLA ACADEMY, BANGALORE
CEMISTRY PRACTICAL ACTIVITY

SUBJECT: CHEMISTRY GRADE: XII IBDP

TO DETERMINE THE PERCENTAGE BY MASS OF CALCIUM CARBONATE IN AN

EGG SHELL

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this practical is to determine the percentage by mass of

calcium carbonate in an egg shell but could in fact be used to determine the amount of
calcium carbonate in other samples such as limestone rock or sea shells. In addition to the
stated aim of determining the percentage of calcium carbonate in the shell you are also
introduced to the technique of ‘back titration’. Calcium carbonate reacts with hydrochloric
acid but it is difficult to determine exactly when all the solid calcium carbonate has reacted to
one drop of standard hydrochloric acid solution if it is titrated directly. In this experiment, a
known amount of excess acid is added to the sample to ensure that all the calcium carbonate
has reacted. The excess acid is then diluted and made up to a known volume. Aliquots of this
diluted excess acid solution are then titrated with a standard solution of sodium hydroxide.

PROCEDURE:

1. Carefully wash the shell of an egg to remove any dirt and organic matter attached to
it.
2. Dry the shell either in an oven or by using hot air from a hair dryer.
3. Grind the shell into small pieces and weigh accurately about 0.6 g of the shell into a
conical flask.
4. Using a graduated pipette add 20.0 cm3 of 1.00 mol dm-3 hydrochloric acid solution.
5. Add the acid slowly and swirl the flask to prevent any small amount of liquid
escaping from the flask with the carbon dioxide that is produced.
6. Once the reaction has completely finished add about 20 cm3 of distilled water and
transfer all the contents of the flask to a 100 cm3 volumetric flask.
7. Use more distilled water to ensure all the contents have been transferred and to make
the final volume to exactly 100 cm3.
8. Take 10.0 cm3 aliquots of this solution and titrate them with standard 0.100 mol dm-
3 sodium hydroxide solution using phenolphthalein as an indicator.
Raw data table

Volume titrated in
cm3
Sl no.
Uncertainty in the instrument =
±0.05 cm3

1) 9.80

2) 10.30

3) 11.10

4) 10.70

The 50ml burette that was used had a least count of 0.1ml at 27°C, therefore we can consider this an
error in the instrument. But the data in the table also suggests the existence of random error, to correct
this we would need to take an average.

Processed data table

Volume of NaOH titrated in

cm3 Average of
NaOH titrated
Sl no. in cm3
Uncertainty =
Trial 1 Trial 2 ±0.65 cm3

1) 9.80 10.30 10.05

2) 11.10 10.70 10.90

Graph

Graphical representation of the titrated values

11

10.8
Volume titrated in cm3

10.6

10.4

10.2

10

9.8

9.6
1) 2)

Here, the average is taken as follows,

9.8 + 10.3
= 10.05
2
And the uncertainty in the average is found by,
Max − Min 11.1 − 9.2
= = 0.65
2 2
Data Processing
Reaction equations: -
1) 2HCl(aq) + CaCO3(s) → CaCl2(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l) + HCl(aq)
2) HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) → NaCl(aq) + H2O(l)

The No. of moles of NaOH in the solution with 0.1M concentration was,
10.05 ± 0.65
× 0.1 = 0.001005 ± 0.000065 moles
1000
Due to the 1:1 molar ration of HCl : CaCO3, the no of moles of HCl that reacted should be around
0.0010475 in 10 cm3 of the aliquot. Therefore, in 100cm3 of the same there must be,
0.001005 ± 0.000065 × 10 = 0.01005 ± 0.00065 mol of HCl
The no of moles of HCl that was added to the Egg shell is,
20 ± 0.5
× 1 = 0.02 ± 0.0005 mol
1000
Now to calculate the no of moles of HCl that reacted with CaCO3 in the Egg shell,
0.020 ± 0.0005 − 0.01005 ± 0.00065 = 0.00995 ± 0.00115 mol of HCl
Dividing the above value by 2 will give us the no of moles of CaCO3 that was present and reacted.
Then it’s finally converted mass of CaCO3,
0.004975 ± 0.000575 × 100.0869 = 0.4979323275 ± 0.0575499675 grams
In terms of percentage of the Egg shell,
0.4979323275 ± 0.0575499675
× 100 ≈ 82.988 ± 9.592%
0.6
Now, doing the same for the second average gives us,
0.455395395 ± 0.0575499675
× 100 ≈ 75.899 ± 9.592%
0.6

Conclusion
Using an indirect route, it was possible to calculate the amount of CaCO3 that was present in the
eggshell. Reacting the HCl with the eggshell and then using an indicator along with NaOH to find the
amount of HCl that was left unreacted as HCl was added in excess. In the end the above
calculations led to the Egg shell containing 82.98% of CaCO3 with the uncertainty of 9.592%.

Evaluation
The one fatal assumption in the experiment is that the eggshell doesn’t contain else that would react
in the HCl acid. This may have either caused a major error in the experiment if the reactant was in a
high enough quantity, in the case that there a very minute amount of substance that reacted with HCl,
then the result would have a negligible.
The other error I could identify in my methods for the experiment, was that I could have obtained
more values, as the error seems to be significant. The main reason for the error seems to be due to the
use of a less accurate measuring cylinder to measure the amount of aliquot to put in. The other source
of error might be due to the concentration of NaOH, as an analogue balance was used to measure all
the weights, there might be a miniscule error in the amount of CaCO3 that was weighed, and even the
amount of solid NaOH that was dissolved in the distilled water.
The experiment was repeated twice, with two trials each. This was done so that the error due to
human inaccuracy can be reduced. But the results showed quite a variation in the answer, 82.988%
and 75.899%. But since this is well within the error margin of 9.592%, we can consider this a result of
human error. And due to the consistency in the results the final result can be considered valid.
The final source of error came from the excessive transferring of the aliquot and the Reactants, so any
left over in the initial container will lead to an inaccurate result.
Appendix
Preparation of the reactants

A. HCl
HCl was prepared from a market standard solution of 35% w/w, with 1.18 g dissolved per ml.
To calculate the concentration: -
1000 × 1.18 = 1180 𝑔𝑔
This means that at 100% concentration the solution would have 1.180 kg of HCl dissolved in it. But
since this was 35% concentration,
35% × 1180 = 413 𝑔𝑔
Then,
413
= 11.3275 mol dm−3
36.36
Now with that concentration, in needed an 250ml solution with 1M concentration,
𝑥𝑥
× 11.3275 = 1
1000
Solving for x gives,
𝑥𝑥 = 88.2807 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚
So, I would have to dissolve 88.2807 ml in 1L to make an 1M solution, therefore using unitary
methods for 250ml will give me,
250 − 𝑥𝑥 𝑥𝑥
=
1000 88.2807

Solving for x gives us,

𝑥𝑥 = 20.23 ml
Therefore adding 20.23ml of Conc. HCL to 229.77ml of water will give us 250ml 1M of HCl.

B. NaOH
Adding 4 g to 1000ml of water resulted in 0.1M solution. As adding 4 g is adding 0.1 mol of NaOH
to 1L of water.