Determination of the Solubility Product of an Ionic Compound, Ca(OH)2

Question:
What is the solubility product of an ionic compound, Ca(OH)2?
Method:
First, I took the two wellplates and arranged them so that there were twelve wells across, and numbered
the first row of wells one to twelve from left to right. I used a dropper bottle of 0.10 M Ca(NO3)2 and
added 5 drops in the first well. I then used a dropper bottle of H2O to put five drops of water in wells #2
through #12. Then, I added 5 drops of Ca(NO3)2 in the second well, and used a pipet to mix the solution
by drawing the solution into the pipet and squirting it back a few times. Then, I put five drops of the
solution from well #2 into well #3, squirted the remaining well #2 solution back into well #2, and then
used the pipet to mix well #3. I repeated this process for the remaining wells, ending by mixing the
solution from well #11 into well #12, and then discarded five drops of solution from well #12. I then took
a dropper bottle of NaOH and placed five drops in each of the wells, and waited for a few minutes for a
precipitate to form. Finally, I recorded which wells had a visible precipitate in them.
I repeated the entire process again in another row of wells on the wellplate, but backwards. I started by
putting five drops of NaOH into well #1, then put five drops of water in wells #2 to #12, and mixed the
solution in well #1. I then added the solution from well #1 to well #2, and repeated the previous process
for the rest of the wells as well. I also recorded which wells had a visible precipitate in them. At the end
of the experiment, I had recorded the molarities of the Ca(OH)+ and NaOH according to the bottles, as
well as which wells had precipitates in them and which did not for both experiments.

Results:
The solubility equilibrium for this reaction was Ca(OH)+(s)  Ca2+ + 2OH-. In order to find the solubility
product of Ca(OH)+, I needed to know the concentrations of Ca and OH in the solution. The
concentration of Ca halved with each dilution, and the concentration of OH remained constant. The data
collected for the first trial (NaOH last) is displayed in Table 1.
Table 1:

[Ca2+]
[Ca2+] [OH-] Relationship
after base
Well # after dilution after addition Precipitate? between Qsp
added
(M) (M) and Ksp
(M)
1 0.10 0.050 0.05 Y Qsp > Ksp
2 0.050 0.25 0.05 Y Qsp > Ksp
3 0.25 0.013 0.05 Y Qsp > Ksp
4 0.013 0.0063 0.05 Y Qsp > Ksp
5 0.0063 0.0031 0.05 N Qsp = Ksp
6 0.0031 0.0016 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
7 0.0016 7.8*10-4 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
8 7.8*10-4 3.9*10-4 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
9 3.9*10-4 2.0*10-4 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
10 2.0*10-4 9.8*-5 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
11 9.8*-5 4.9*10-5 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
 12 4.9*10-5 2.4*10-5 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp

The data for the second part of the experiment (NaOH added first) is displayed in Table 2.
Table 2:

[OH-]
[OH-] [Ca2+] Relationship
after base
Well # after dilution after addition Precipitate? between Qsp
added
(M) (M) and Ksp
(M)
1 0.10 0.050 0.05 Y Qsp > Ksp
2 0.050 0.25 0.05 Y Qsp > Ksp
3 0.25 0.013 0.05 Y Qsp > Ksp
4 0.013 0.0063 0.05 Y Qsp = Ksp
5 0.0063 0.0031 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
6 0.0031 0.0016 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
7 0.0016 7.8*10-4 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
8 7.8*10-4 3.9*10-4 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
9 3.9*10-4 2.0*10-4 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
10 2.0*10-4 9.8*-5 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
11 9.8*-5 4.9*10-5 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp
12 4.9*10-5 2.4*10-5 0.05 N Qsp < Ksp

To find the solubility product of Ca(OH)+, I needed to identify the point when the system was in
equilibrium, or saturated. Since precipitate only forms once the system is saturated, I identified the point
as in the fifth well (5th row in Tables 1 and 2) for both experiments, since it was the first step that
precipitate started forming, which was proof that the solutions were saturated. To find the solubility
product, I needed to solve for Ksp value by plugging in the saturation molarities for both ions into the
equilibrium expression, Ksp=[Ca2+][OH-]2, for the values in Row 5 of both experiments.
The calculation for the solubility product of the first experiment is shown in Calculation 1.
Calculation 1:
Ksp=[Ca2+][OH-]2
[Ca2+] = 0.0031
[OH-]2 = 0.052 = 0.0025
Ksp= 0.0031*0.0025 = 0.00000775

Calculation 2:
Ksp=[Ca2+][OH-]2
[Ca2+] = 0.05
[OH-]2 = 0.00312 = 0.00000961
Ksp= 0.05*0.00000961 = 0.0000004805

The average of the two was my calculated Ksp, which was 0.00000411525, or 4.1*10-6.

Answer:
The solubility product of Ca(OH)+ was 4.1*10-6.

Results:
My result, 4.1*10-6, is lower than the textbook solubility product for Ca(OH)+, which is 6.5*10-6. This
inaccuracy may have been caused by the mixed solutions in the pipet. Each of the wells had solutions
with different concentrations in them, so not changing the pipet while mixing and transferring the
different solutions may have caused some to mix. For example, if any of the well #1 solution had
remained in the pipet when I started working with well #3, then the concentration of the solution in well
#3 might have been affected. As the concentrations for Ca2+ decreased as the well number increased, it
would have caused well #3 to have a higher concentration than it should have had, which is what might
have caused well #3 to have a precipitate when it was not supposed to have one. If that had been the case,
then step #2, not step #3 should have been at equilibrium. As step #2 has a higher concentration of Ca2+,
it would have yielded a higher equilibrium constant. This mistake is possible for my result, as my result
was too low. Another possible error is that the drops from the pipet and the water dropper are not equal
(the water dropper drops appeared to be larger), which means that the molarities might not be halved
perfectly, and instead decreased by a proportion of between 1 and ½ . This would cause the
concentrations to be higher than I have written, which would have yielded a higher equilibrium constant.
Such errors may explain why my solubility product was lower than it should have been.