SURNAME : NKOSAYIDLI

NAME : NOLUBABALO

STUDENT NUMBER : 202108442

COURSE CODE : BCH 211(PRACTICAL)

EXPERIMENT :1

TOPIC : PREPARATION OF ACETATE BUFFERS

GROUP : 5D

DATE : 07 MARCH 2022

Title: Preparation of acetate buffers

Introduction:

(Zumdahl,2007) concluded that the most important application of acid-base solutions

containing common ion is for buffering. A buffered solution is the one that resists a
change in pH when either hydroxide ions or protons are added. The most important
practical of a buffered solution is our blood, which can also absorb acid and base
produced in biological reactions without changing its Ph. A constant pH of blood is vital
because cells can survive only in a narrow pH range. A Buffered solution may contain a
weak acid and its salt or weak base and its salt.

A buffer solution is an aqueous solution consisting of a mixture of a weak acid and its
conjugate base, or vice versa. according to. (Walter 1961). Buffer solutions are used as
a means of keeping pH at a nearly constant value in wide variety of chemical
applications. It’s pH changes very little when a small amount of strong acid or base is
added to it. The hydrogen ion concentration of the buffer solution is dependent on the
relative amounts of acetic acid and acetate ion (or sodium acetate) present, known as
the buffer ratio. The addition of an acid or a base will cause corresponding changes in
the concentration of acetic acid and acetate ion, but as long as the concentration of the
added substances is small compared to the concentration of the individual buffer
components, the new hydrogen ion concentration will remain close to its original value.
Buffer solutions resist a change in pH when small amounts of a strong acid or a strong
base are added. A solution of acetic acid and sodium acetate (CH 3COOH +
CH3COONa) is an example of a buffer that consists of a weak acid and its salt (Walter
1961).

The amount of a strong base that a buffer can neutralize is called the buffer capacity.
After a strong base or acid is neutralized, the equilibrium will be re-established. Since
the concentration of a conjugate acid-base pair in a buffer are usually high, the is very
little change in the acid-base pair concentration as the system established equilibrium
(Sundberg at al.1974). The buffering capacity solution represents the amount of protons
or hydroxide ions the buffer can absorb without a significant change in ph.

A Buffer with a large capacity contains large concentrations of buffering components

and so can absorb a relatively large amount protons or hydroxide ions and show little
pH change. The pH of a buffered solution is determined by the ratio [A‾]/[HA]. The
capacity of a buffered solution is determined by the magnitudes of [HA] and [A‾].
(Bohinski,1998).

A mixture of acetic acid and sodium acetate is acidic because the Ka of acetic acid is
greater than the Kb of its conjugate base acetate. It is a buffer because it contains both
the weak acid and its salt. Hence, it acts to keep the hydronium ion concentration (and
the pH) almost constant by the addition of either a small amount of a strong acid or a
strong base. If we add a base such as sodium hydroxide, the hydroxide ions react with
the few hydronium ions present. The pH changes very little. If we add an acid such as
hydrochloric acid, most of the hydronium ions from the hydrochloric acid combine with
acetate ions, forming acetic acid molecules. When an acid is added to the buffer
solution the solution has to remove most of the new hydrogen ions in order to maintain
the pH and avoid rapid dropping. The hydrogen ions combine with the acetate ions to
make an acetic acid. Although the reaction is reversible, since the acetic acid is a weak
acid, most hydrogen ions are removed in this way. Since most of the new hydrogen ions
are removed, the pH will experience a little change because of the equilibria involved
(Chang, 2003).

The pKa value for a weak acid is 4.76 at 25℃. Ka is the value of acid dissociation
constant and the higher the ka value the stronger the acidity. The Henderson-
Hasselbalch equation is effective in estimating the pH of a buffer solution and finding
the equilibrium pH in an acid-base reaction. This is the Henderson-Hasselbalch
equation: pH = pKa+log ¿The equation can also be applied to bases by specifying the
protonated form of bases as the acid. (Hasselbalch, K.A. (1917).
Aim: To determine the slight change in the pH before 2ml of hydrochloric Acid (HCL)
and 2ml of Hydrochloric acid (HCL) is added in both solutions of sodium acetate and
acetic Acid using the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation.

Methods and Materials:

7 beakers were placed in place, 4 beakers were 10ml and used to mix acetic acid with
sodium acetate both having 0,1M concentration. 3 beakers were used to collect 32ml of
sodium acetate, 40ml of acetic acid and 8ml of Hydrochloric acid. Sodium acetate was
firstly measured according to the measurements given on the table for each tube from
one to four, see table on results. Later on, acetic acid was added to the sodium acetate
(16ml of acetic acid to 2ml of sodium acetate, 12ml of acetic acid to 6ml of sodium
acetate, 8ml of acetic acid to 10 ml of sodium acetate, and 4ml of acetic acid to 14ml of
sodium acetate) each solution in a different 100ml beaker was mixed thoroughly with a
steering rod. After they were mixed, PH was measured using PH meter. Before the
measuring of PH, calibration of buffers was done. The probe was rinsed in distilled
water after measuring the PH of each beaker and PH was recorded. 2ml of hydrochloric
acid was added to each of the four beakers with mixture of sodium acetate and acetic
acid. The PH of each solution was measured using the PH meter. PH of each solution
was calculated before and after the addition of Hydrochloric acid using the Henderson-
Hasselbalch equation.

Results

Table: THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE MEASURED AND CALCULATED pH

BEFORE AND AFTER THE ADDITION OF HCL TO THE SOLUTION MIXTURE OR
SODIUM ACETATE AND ACETIC ACID

Tube no 1 2 3 4
Sodium Acetate 2 6 10 14
Acetic Acid(ml) 16 12 8 4
pH measured 3.41 4.12 4.55 5.07
pH calculated 3.86 4.46 4.86 5.30
Hydrochloric Acid 2 2 2 2
(ml)
pH measured 2.65 3.75 4.22 4.68
pH calculated 4.76 4.22 4.66 5.06
CALCULATIONS BEFORE ADDITION OF HCL

TUBE NUMBER :1.

pH = pKa+log
[ ( conjugate base )
( weak acid ) ]
(
[ ]
18 )
2× 0.1

= 4.76 + log
( 16 ×180.1 )
=3.86

TUBE NUMBER: 2

pH= pKa+log [ ( conjugate base )

( weak acid ) ]
(
[ ]
18 )
6 × 0.1

= 4.76 + log
( 12 18× 0.1 )
=4.46

TUBE NUMBER: 3

pH = pKa+log
[ ( conjugate base )
( weak acid ) ]
 (
[ ]
18 )
10 × 0.1

= 4.76 + log
( 18 )
8× 0.1

= 4.86

TUBE NUMBER: 4

pH= pKa+log [ ( conjugate base )

( weak acid ) ]
(
[ ]
18 )
14 ×0.1

= 4.76 + log
( 4 ×0.1
18 )

=5.30

CALCULATION OF pH AFTER ADDING HCL

TUBE NUMBER:1

pH = pKa+log
[ ( conjugate base )
( weak acid ) ]
(
[ )−(
20 )

]
2 × 0.1 2 ×0.1
20
= 4.76 + log
( 16 ×200.1 )+( 2 ×0.1
20 )

= 4.76

TUBE NUMBER: 2

pH= pKa+log
[ ( conjugate base )
( weak acid ) ]
 (
[ )−(
20 )

]
6 × 0.1 2 ×0.1
20
= 4.76 + log
( 20 ) ( 20 )
12 × 0.1
+
2× 0.1

=4.22

TUBE NUMBER: 3

pH= pKa+log [ ( conjugate base )

( weak acid ) ]
(
[ )−(
20 )

]
10 × 0.1 2× 0.1
20
= 4.76 + log
( 8 ×0.1
20 ) ( 20 )
+
2 × 0.1

= 4.66

TUBE NUMBER: 4

pH = pKa+log
[ ( conjugate base )
( weak acid ) ]
(
[ ) −(
20 )

]
14 ×0.1 2 ×0.1
20
= 4.76 + log
( 4 ×200.1 )+( 2 ×0.1
20 )

=5.06
FIGURE 2: SHOWS THE PREPARATION OF ACETIC ACID AND SODIUM ACETATE.
Discussion:

On beaker 1 and 2 the calculated pH before the addition of HCl was less than the pKa
value (4.76) which shows that the sample was mostly protonated, this was due to the
fact that there was more of an acid (acetic acid) in relation to a base (sodium acetate).
The pH of the buffer increases from beaker 1 to 4 due to the addition of more base
compared to an acid as it is known that bases increase the pH. The pH values of
beakers 3 and 4 therefore are higher than the pKa value to show that the sample is
mostly deprotonated. This is because the ratio of a base to an acid is high. The
measured pH also follows the trend of increasing from beaker 1 to 4 which tends
towards alkalinity. The difference between the measured and the calculated pH is not
too big. The calculated pH is greater than the pH measured, this may be because the
pH meter is not accurate.

After the addition of a small amount of HCl (2ml) which is a strong acid, the measured
pH decreases for all tubes but they experience only a slight change because there are
acetate ions to counter-act with the new hydrogen ions by reacting with them to form an
acetic acid. The reaction is reversible and thus maintaining the pH of the buffer. The
measured pH still increases from beaker 1 up to beaker 4 but the pH values are all less
than the pKa value 4.76 which shows that the sample was protonated. An acid was
added to the samples, so the slight decrease was expected since the acid has free
hydrogen ions to react with the acetate ion to form more acid. The overall comment is
that after the addition of HCl the pH decreases, and the solutions became more acidic
as compared with the ones before the addition of HCL.

The buffer experiences slight changes upon addition of small amounts of another
substance of different pH that is why they can be used in biological systems which
require certain pH to function. A buffer works best when the pH = pKa and its buffering
range should be about one pH unit above or below the pKa value. The measured pH on
beaker 1 after addition of HCl is far from 4.76 by 2.27 which is out of the buffering
range. This may be an experimental error.
To the similar experiment it was discovered that during the begging of the titration, while
the base is being added there was a very small increase in pH. This is because as OH -
base is being added, most of it is being reacted away by the H + from a weak acid. The
weak acid ka equilibrium responds in (H+) now shifts to produce H+ which will need to
react away by HO- from a strong base. Buffer solutions can resist change in pH because
of the equilibrium between the weak acid/base and its conjugate pair. The equilibrium
will simply shift to remove or produce more H 3O+ to oppose the change made when you
added strong acid or base where the buffer is made with equal amounts of conjugate
acid and base (Donahue, 1985)
References:

1. Chang, R (. 2003). General Chemistry.3rd ed. McGraw Hill: New York.

2. Donahue.D.(1985). Buffer capacity of various acetic-sodium acetate systems a

lecturer experiment.

3. Scorpio, C. (2000). Fundamentals of acids, bases, buffers and their application to

biochemical systems.

4. Walter, B. (1961). Fasily prepared buffer series. Journal of Chemical Education.

5. Tropp, A. (1993). Aqueous Acid-Base Equilibrium and titrations. New York: Oxford
University Press inc 1991

6. Bohinski, R.C. (1998). Modern concepts in Biochemistry.9 th ed. Oxford University.

7. Boyer, F.R. (1986). Modern experiment in Biochemistry.8 th ed.