AcidBaseLab

DeterminationofCaCO
inToothpaste
3
(Mix,Boss,Prim,Marty111)
27February2015

Introduction
Calciumcarbonate(CaCO
)orlimestoneiscomposedof2forms
3
rockandcrystal.Inaddition,thecalciumcarbonateonlyreactswithacid,
whichalwaysproducecarbondioxide.Therefore,itcanbefoundedin
natureorourdailylifesinceithavebeenusedforindustrialpurposes
personalhealth,foodproduction,andconstruction [1] .
Titrationisamethodthatcanbeusetofindacertainamountof
substanceinasolution.Themethodoftitrationistokeepaddingacidto
thesolutionuntilitreachesitsequivalencepoint,meaningthattheamount
ofsubstancesthatwewanttofindisproportionaltotheamountofacid
added.thisthencanbedeterminedbyachemicalformula.Afterthat,we
canfindtheamountofthatsubstanceeasily.Nevertheless,some
solutionstakelongertimetoreactwithacid.Inthiscase,wecanadd
excessacid,heatingittomakeitreactfaster,andtitratingitbackusing
base.Thisprocessiscallbacktitration.Inthisexperiment,wecanfind
theamountofCaCO3

intoothpasteeasilyusingtheprocessofback
titration.
Purpose
TobeabletodeterminetheamountofCaCO3

intoothpaste,and
drawagraphbetweenthepH,andthevolumeofNaOHadded.
Hypothesis
WethinkthatwewillbeabletodetermineamountofCaCO3

inthe
toothpastebyusingtheprocessofbacktitration.Fromtheexperiment,we
willbeabletodetermineamountofHClattheequilibriumandwecanuse
thattofindtheamountofCaCO
.ForthegraphbetweenpH,andvolume
3
ofNaOHadded,wethinkthattheslopeofthegraphwillinstantly
increasingwhenthereactionisclosetoitsequivalencepoint.

Materials
125mLErlenmeyerFlasks(ConicalFlask)x3
spatulax1
buretx1
stirbarx1
pHmeterx1
graduatedcylinderx1
colgatetoothpastex1
Methods
1) Weight~0.5gramoftoothpastedirectlyintotheErlenmeyerflask
thenadd~10mLofwater.
2) Addexactly10.00mL,0.10MHCl.(Byvolumepipette)
3) Heatat~95105degreescelsiusfor~5minutes.(makesurethatit
dissolveandreact.)
4) Waitforthesolutiontocool.
5) Addfewdropsofanindicator(phenolphthalein).
6) ChecktheinitialpHwithpHmeter.
7) SlowlyaddNaOHuntilthesolutionturnslightpinkandcheckthe
finalpH.
8) Repeatsteps17for2moretimes
9) Forthelasttime,recordthepHofthesolutionforevery1mLof
NaOHaddeduntilthepHreaches12.
10) Usetheresultsfromtheexperimenttocalculatetofindthe
averageamountofCaCO
pergramofthetoothpaste.
3
11) UsethedatafromthelasttitrationtoplotgraphbetweenpHand
increasingNaOHvolume.

Data/Results,ProcessedData/Results

Sample1

Sample2

Sample3

Weight
toothpaste(g)

0.85

0.69

0.55

InitialVol.(mL)

23.27

32.40

41.99

InitialpH

4.37

4.21

4.09

FinalVol.(mL)

32.40

41.99

49.77

FinalpH

8.25

8.44

8.06

TotalVol.(mL)

9.13

9.59

7.78

VolHClreacted
with
toothpaste(mL)

0.87

0.41

2.22

MolesHCl
reacted

8.7x105

4.1x105

2.2x104

MolesCaCO
3

4.4x105

2.1x105

1.1x104

Amount
CaCO
(mg)
3

4.4

2.1

11

Amount
CaCO
(mg/g)
3

5.1

3.0

20

Average
CaCO
(mg/g)
3

9.4

Standard
deviation

7.6

Standarderror
ofthemean

4.4

%RSD

80%

TableofpHandvolumeofNaOHaddedonthethirdsample
pH

VolumeofNaOHadded(mL)

4.09

5.19

1.22

5.51

2.21

5.74

3.22

5.98

4.24

6.37

5.18

6.79

6.26

7.33

7.25

8.06

7.78

9.58

8.65

10.49

9.90

10.96

10.97

11.16

11.99

11.23

12.98

Discussion
Inthisexperiment,wearetryingtofindtheamountofCaCO
ina
3
toothpaste.Oneofthewaytodothatistitration.Ifwecontinueadding
HCluntiltheindicatorbeginstochangeitscolor,wewillbeabletofind
theamountofCaCO3

thatreactedwithHCl.Whenthesolutionisatits
equivalencepoint,weknowthatthereisnoexcessHCl,meaningthatall
oftheHCladdedreactedwithalloftheCaCO3

inthesolution.Afterthat,
wecanfindtheamountofCaCO
bylookingatthechemicalformula2HCl
3
+CaCO
CaCl
+CO
+H
O.Fromtheequation,when2molesof
3
2
2
2
HClisusedinthesolution,amoleofCaCO3

isalsobeingused.Thenwe
canfindthenumberofmoleofCaCO
bydividingthenumberofmoleof
3
HClusedinthesolutionby2.Althoughwecantitratethesolutionby
usingonlyHCl,itisgoingtotakeuslotsoftime.Thus,weaddexcess
HCl(becausewedontknowhowmuchitisgoingtotaketoreachits
equivalencepoint),andheatittohelpincreasestherateofreaction.

Then,westartaddingNaOHtoreactedwithHClandincreaseitspH.At
equivalencepoint(equivalencepointisthepointwheretheamountofacid
isequaltoamountofbase),allexcessHClwillreactwithalloftheNaOH
added.ThisalsomeansthattheamountofNaOHaddedwillequalto
amountofexcessHCl.Then,wecansubtracttheexcessHCLfromthe
theinitialHCL(initialamountofHCLexcessamountofHCL)togetthe
amountofHClthatreactedwithCaCO
.Thisprocessiscalledback
3
titrationbecauseweaddedanacidinanexcessiveamountandtitratedit
backwithbasetoitsequivalencepoint.Wecanknowwhendidthe
solutionreachedthispointbytheuseofindicator,phenolphthaleininthis
case.EachindicatorwillchangeitscoloratdifferentpH.For
phenolphthalein,itwillchangeitscolortopinkaroundthepHof8.3.In
thisexperiment,wehaveperformed3samples.Thereasonwedidit
morethanonetimesisbecausetheremightbeerrorshappenedinoneof
theexperiment.Tobesure,morethanonesamplesarecreatedhence
wecanseeiftheresultsareidenticalornotandcalculatedtheaverage
result.

Conclusion
Fromthisexperiment,wewereabletofindtheamountofCaCO3

in
toothpastethroughtheprocessofbacktitration,andabletocreateda
graphbetweenpHofthesolution,andtheamountofNaOHadded.
Although,therearesomeerrorsinthisexperiment,whichisthatthe
%RSDofthisexperimentisquitelarge,meaningthatthereisalarge
differencebetweentheresultsofeachsamples.Wethinkthatthiserror
happenedbecausetheamountofCaCO
isnotthesameindifferentpart
3
ofthetoothpaste.WethinkthattheamountofCaCO3

wasnotspread
equallyinthetoothpastecontainer.Ifthisexperimentweretobe
repeated,wewillincreasethenumberofreplicates,whichwillallowusto
calculateamoreaccurateresult.Lastly,wecanusetheknowledgefrom
thisexperimenttodofurtherexperimentsuchas,howtomakeourown
indicator,orfindingotherwaystofindtheamountofCaCO
inthe
3
toothpaste.

Reference

[1]IndustrialMineralsAssociationNorthAmerica.(n.d.).W
hatis
CalciumCarbonate?.
Availablefrom
www.imana.org/?page=what_is_calcium_carb
[8March2015]
Colgateliquidcalcium.ColgatePalmoliveThailand.,ChonBuri,
NotificationNumber:1015511008
Gretadumrongdej,T.(2014).Chemistry,ABigCenter.Wongwian
yai,Bangkok,Thailand.