Equilibrium Lab Report
Equilibrium Lab Report
3/9/10
Determination of an Equilibrium Constant
Dr. Butler, Section 913
Partners: Alison Atkins
Objectives
This lab was conducted to determine the equilibrium constant of a reaction. We used the
following chemical equation:
Ethyl acetate (EtAc) + Water ⇌ Ethyl alcohol (EtOH) + Acetic Acid (HAc)
Kc = [EtOH][HAc] / [EtAc][H2O]
Procedures
The following materials were used: 50mL buret, 5mL Mohr pipets, 125 or 250mL Erlenmeyers
flasks with stoppers, 50mL graduated cylinder, 3M HCl, ethyl acetate, distilled water, and standard
1.000M NaOH.
This was a two-week lab. In the first week, three solutions with different amounts of ethyl
acetate and distilled water were prepared. In the second week, the 3M HCl solution was titrated with
the standardized NaOH solution to determine the moles of HCl and water in the solution. The three
solutions that were prepared in the first week were titrated with the NaOH solution as well.
Data
A. Titration of HCl
Trial 1 Trial 2
Sample Calculations:
Trial 1:
(1.043M NaOH)(15.1mL NaOH) = 0.0157mol NaOH = 0.0157mol HCl
Sample Calculations:
Solution A:
(1.043M NaOH)(20.5mL NaOH) = 0.0214mol NaOH = 0.0214mol acid
Sample Calculations:
Solution B:
Initial moles EtAc:
4.00mL x 0.893g/mL = 3.57g
3.57g x 1mol/88.0g = 0.0406mol EtAc
Results
According to the equilibrium calculations for the three solutions, as the volume of ethyl acetate
decreased and the volume of water increased, the equilibrium constants decreased. The average and
standard deviation of the three equilibrium constants was affected greatly by the equilibrium constant
for Solution C, which was significantly small compared to the other two constants. The volume of NaOH
that was used to titrate Solution C was 16.6; ethyl alcohol and acetic acid also had significantly less
moles in Solution C. Although it is certain that the Solution C turned pink at that volume, the equilibrium
constant could have come out low because either the NaOH solution or Solution C was contaminated.