JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY
OF
AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPT: CIVIL ENGINEERING
UNIT: CHEMISTRY 1 (SCH 2109)
PRACTICAL REPORT

EXPT 2:
Standardization
and
Determination of Concentration of Hydrochloric Acid in a Given Solution

by ARAKA BRAMWEL MBOGO
EN251-0221/2010

TITLE: STANDARDIZATION and DETERMINATION OF THE CONCENTRATION OF HYDROCHLORIC ACID PRESENT IN A GIVEN SOLUTION

Aims:
To be able to standardize Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) solution using a standard solution of Oxalic acid.
To be able to prepare standard solutions.
To determine the strength of a given solution of Hydrochloric acid (HCl)
To analyze errors that occur during standardization experiments.

Introduction:
A standard solution can be defined as a solution that contains a …show more content…

However, the results obtained may not be 100% accurate. They may not be the actual values.
This is due to the various experimental errors that may have occurred during the course of the titration and even after, just like in any other experiment.
These errors include:
Personal errors
One example of this is whereby the solution taking part in the reaction, say the Oxalic acid, is not homogenous. This happens when the student does not shake the crystals well after adding water when preparing the solution.
This error is minimized by thorough shaking of the crystals with water when preparing the solution so as to ensure that it is homogenous.

Another personal error is Parallax error.
This error occurs when the line of sight of the analyst/student when taking readings is not at right angles to the scale.
It may have occurred in three instances in the experiment: 1. When filling the Oxalic acid in the volumetric flask to the 250ml mark. 2. When pipetting the Oxalic