Name: Sude Selda Yağcı

ID: 22002638

EXPERIMENT: Titration of Antacid Tablets and Determination of Calcium

Content by AAS

Purpose:

The purpose of this experiment is to find the neutralization capacity of an antacid tablet by
dissolving it in HCl and back-titrating with NaOH and to analyze the calcium content in the
antacid tablet by using atomic absorption spectroscopy.

Introduction:

Antacid tablets are basic compounds that are generally used to decrease the gastric acidity by
neutralizing hydrochloric acid found in the stomach. One can consider maintaining the gastric
content of the stomach at a pH ranging between 3.0 and 5.0 an ideal neutralization where the
activity of pepsin is significantly decreased. The acid neutralizing capacity of these antacid
tablets refer to the amount of HCl that a tablet can neutralize, which can be found by back-
titration (Jakaria et al., 2015). For this process, excess HCl is added to dissolve the known
amount of antacid while the excess acid is titrated with standardized NaOH to obtain the
endpoint. 

In the first part of the experiment, commercially available Rennie tablet will be titrated to find
its acid neutralizing capacity. Since the neutralization capacity is directly related to the
amount of HCl that reacts with the carbonate in the tablet, it is expected that the back-titration
will require lesser amount of NaOH to be used for high neutralization capacities due to most
of the HCl molecules reacting with the table which reduces the amount of HCl available that
can react with NaOH (Houshia et al., 2012).
 

In the second part of the experiment, the calcium content of Rennie tablet will be obtained by
atomic absorption spectroscopy which is used to measure quantities of elements present in
samples by measuring their absorbed radiation. Direct and standard addition methods are the
main types of methods used for the preparation of the samples used in this spectroscopy. For
this experiment, standard addition method will be used to reduce inaccuracies and improve
precision.

Procedure:

For the first part of the experiment, the antacid tablet should be crushed by using a mortar and
it should be placed into a 250 mL volumetric flask and dissolved with HCl which is 0.1M.
The amount of HCl needed to react completely with calcium carbonate should be calculated
by using the value given on the box of tablets and HCl in excess should be added to perform
back-titration. Before titration, carbon dioxide that results from the addition of HCl should be
removed by heating the solution for 5 minutes. After cooling, 20 drops of phenolphthalein
should be added to the solution and titration should be performed with 0.1M of NaOH. The
amount of NaOH needed to reach the end point should be recorded.

For the second part of the experiment, calcium content of antiacid tablet is to be determined
by AAS. A tablet should be crushed using a mortar and dissolved in 1 L of 0.1M HCl. Then,
100 mL of this solution should be taken and diluted to 250 mL. Then, the standard solution
should be prepared by taking 5 mL of 1000 ppm stock solution and diluted to 50 mL with
deionized water to obtain 100 ppm intermediate Ca standard solution. For standard addition
method, +0 mL, +4mL, +6mL, +8mL and +10mL solutions should be prepared. 10 mL of
sample solution is added to 5 different 100 mL flasks. After this, +0 mL, +4mL, +6mL,
+8mL and +10mL of intermediate Ca standard solution should be added to each of these
flasks. The resulting solutions should be diluted to 100 mL with deionized water. For AAS,
the instrument should be turned on and
the experimental parameters should be set up initially. Then, the blank measurement should
be obtained. Afterwards, the solutions prepared at the beginning of part 2 should be measured
and the results should be recorded. Lastly, using the measurement obtained from AAs, a
calibration curve should be drawn to find the Ca content in a tablet.

Observation:

In the first part of the experiment, it was observed that after the adding HCl to the antacid
tablet to dissolve it, the resulting solution had slight cloudiness to additional substances found
in the tablet such as starch. Then, titration was performed with NaOH and the end point was
observed by seeing the solution turn pink after adding 130 mL NaOH as expected from the
used amount of HCl which was relatively large. In the second part of the experiment, AAS
was performed. It was seen that the measured absorbance increased as the concentration of
calcium increased due to the Beer-Lambert Law.

Results & Discussion:

Part 1) Titration of Antacid Tablet

In this part, antacid tablet dissolved in 0.1M 250 mL HCl was back titrated with 0.1 M NaOH
solution. The end point was obtained after 130 mL of NaOH was used. Before titration, the
solution was heated since carbonate ions in the sample react with HCl to produce carbon
dioxide as shown by the reactions below. By heating, CO2 which can make the solution more
acidic, was gotten rid of.

CaC O3 (s )+ 2 HCl( aq)→ CaC l2 ( aq)+ C O2 (g)+ H 2 O(l)

MgC O 3 ( s)+2 HCl(aq) → MgC l 2 (aq)+C O2 (g)+ H 2 O(l)
 a) The amount of HCl that can be neutralized theoretically can be found by shown
below.

Mass of CaCO3 in one tablet = 0.680 g

Molar mass of CaCO3 = 100 g/mol

Number of moles of CaCO3 = 0.680 g / (100g/mol) = 6.8 x 10-3 mol

Mass of CaCO3in one tablet = 0.080 g

Molar mass of CaCO3 = 84.3 g/mol

Number of moles of MgCO3 = 0.080 g / (84.3 g/mol) = 9.5 x 10-4 mol

Total number of moles of carbonate = 6.8 x 10-3 mol + 9.5 x 10-4 mol = 7.75 x 10-3 mol

By stoichiometry, 2 moles of HCl react with carbonate therefore,

Amount of HCl neutralized theoretically = 7.75 x 10-3 x 2 = 0.0155 mol HCl

b) The amount HCL that can be neutralized experimentally can be found by shown
below.

0.1 M NaOH x 130 mL = 0.013 mol NaOH

By stoichiometry 0.013 mol HCl reacts with NaOH.

The number of moles of HCl that was neutralized by the antacid is equal to the total number
of moles of HCl added minus the number of moles that were neutralized by the NaOH:

250 mL of 0.1M HCl was taken to dissolve the tablet. Thus, total amount of HCl used is equal
to 0.025 mol.

0.025 mol total HCl – 0.013 mol titrated HCl = 0.012 mol neutralized HCl by tablet
experimentally.

Thus, it can be said that experimentally, the neutralization capacity of an antacid tablet
(Rennie) is about 0.012 mol.

Using the results from a and b, we can obtain the error percentage as shown below.

|known value−experimental value|

%Error = ×100
k nown value

|0.0155−0.012|
%Error = ×100 = 22.6%
0.0155

The reason for this error might be caused by the spilling of the crushed tablet while using the
mortar.
Part 2) Calcium Determination by AAS through standard addition method

Solutions Absorbance
S+0 0.0072
S+4 0.0093
S+6 0.0107
S+8 0.0135
S+10 0.0145
Table 1: AAS Standard addition method measurements for Ca

Calibration Curve for Standard Addition

Method of Ca
0.016

0.014 f(x) = 0.000764864864864865 x + 0.00675675675675676

0.012

0.01

0.008

0.006

0.004

0.002

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Graph 1: Calibration Curve of Ca for Standard Addition Method

The obtained absorbance for the measurements was plotted with their respective standard
addition values. By extrapolating the curve shown in graph 1, the concentration of Ca in
unknown sample can be obtained as shown below.

y = 0.0008x + 0.0068
0 = 0.0008x + 0.0068
x = 8.5 ppm

Thus, it can be seen that the concentration of Ca is 8.5 ppm. The theoretical concentration of
calcium can be determined as shown below.

The concentration of Ca in tablet:

Mass of CaCO3 in one tablet = 680 mg

Molar mass of CaCO3 = 100 g/mol
Molar mass of calcium = 40 g/mol

0.0680 g / (100 g/mol) = 0.0068 mol

 0.0068 mol x 40 g/mol = 0.272 g Ca in one tablet
0.272 g = 272 mg
272 mg / 1L = 272 ppm

100 mL of sample solution was taken and diluted to 250 mL hence,

100 mL
( 272 ppm Ca) × =¿ 108.8 ppm
250 mL

|known value−experimental value|

%Error = ×100
k nown value

|10.88−8.5|
%Error = ×100 = 28%
10.88

The reason for this error might be because of faulty measurement from the instrument or the
insufficient cleaning of the capillary that is used to take the samples, resulting in
contamination.

Conclusion:

In this experiment, the neutralization capacity of an antacid tablet and its calcium content was
analyzed by performing back titration and AAS. The titration results showed that one tablet
has the capacity to neutralize 0.012 mol HCl while AAS results showed that the calcium
content of one tablet is 8.5 ppm.

References:

Houshia, O. J., AbuEid, M., Zaid, O., Zaid, M., & Al-daqqa, N. (2012). Evaluation of the Effectiveness of
the Acid-Neutralizing.

Jakaria, M., Zaman, R., Parvez, M., Islam, M., Haque, M. A., Sayeed, M. A., & Ali, M. H. (2015).
Comparative study among the different formulation of antacid tablets by using acid-base neutralization
reaction. Global journal of pharmacology, 9(3), 278-281.

Skoog, D. A., West, D. M., Holler, F. J., & Crouch, S. R. (2014). Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry.
Brooks/Cole, Cengage learning.