Citric
acid is a common weak acid which occurs naturally in fruits and some
vegetables. It can be purchased in purified form from many natural food and
bulk stores for use in various cooking applications.
PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATION: to determine the
percent purity of a sample of citric acid available for sale by carrying out a
titration with sodium hydroxide
WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING:
Write a background that provides a scientific context
for this investigation
Design a method for making a 250 mL solution of 1.00 g
citric acid, and titrating it with a 0.100 mol/L solution of NaOH in
order to accurately determine the percentage purity of the citric acid
sample.
Carry out the titration and record data accurately in a
table of your own design.
Perform all relevant calculations to work out % purity
of the citric acid
Evaluate your data – how reliable is it? How accurate?
What are the sources of error? How could the method be improved?
