COMMON ION EFFECT AND BUFFERS

PANCHO J. VILLAMORAN

College of Home Economics

University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines

Date Submitted: February 28, 2019

Date Performed: February 20, 2019

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ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS

1. Methyl Orange is a pH indicator used to titrate weak bases and strong acids. The color
turns red at a pH lower than 3.1, and the color turns orange-yellow at a pH higher than
4. Solution 1 turned salmon pink in color, therefore hinting that the pH is 3.1 or below
(actual is 2.71). Solution 2 turned yellow in color, therefore hinting that the pH is greater
than or near 4.4 (actual is 4.30).

Phenolphthalein is a pH indicator that turns red with a pH greater than 10 and remains
colorless with a pH level less than 8.3. Solution 3 turned hot pink, therefore hinting that
the pH is greater than 10 (actual is 10.32). Solution 4 turned lighter in color than
Solution 3, which makes sense since the actual pH was 8.23. The common ion effect
takes into place as this prevents a weak base from reacting with salt to produce [H +] and
[OH-] ions, therefore having a lower pH. Lesser amount of [OH-] means the solution is
less basic, thereby having a lower pH level.

2. Adding large drops of 1.0M HCl and 1.0M NaOH to Solutions 1 & 3 causes a drastically
big change since these solutions are non-buffer solutions, while adding to Solutions 2 &
4 had minimal change since these solutions are buffer solutions. Buffer solutions are
able to resist the change in pH upon addition of a strong acid or strong base since these
solutions contain a weak acid or base conjugate which neutralizes the added small
amounts of acids and bases in the solution.

3. The most accurate of the three methods is computing for the pH specifically since you
are able to calculate the exact pH for a specific solution. The downside to this is that the
pH calculated would be affected by a number of errors that were committed in the
experiment proper. Next to this is the pH meter, which also gives the exact pH of a
solution. But this is less accurate since the improper calibration of the pH meter can
drastically affect the pH since the instrument is very delicate. The least accurate would
be using visual indicators since they cannot exactly show the pH of the solution, rather
only a range of pH values. With colorblindness and color misconception, the pH one
 thinks of for a solution may be different to the pH another person thinks of the same
solution.

4. Errors in computation and performing solution preparation may affect the pH value to
the true pH value of the concentration of a solution to a certain extent. The color
perception of a person from another person’s ‘color perception of a certain solution in
guessing the pH value may be an error for the experiment, and the inference may cause
to have a different result. Lastly, the incorrect calibration of the pH meter may cause a
drastically different result in measuring the pH value, thus getting a different value from
what can be calculated.

REFERENCES:

[1] Skoog, D., Crouch, S., Holler, J., & West, D., 2014. Fundamentals of Analytical
Chemistry, 9th Edition. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

[2] Petrucci, R. 2011. General Chemistry: Principles and Modern Applications, 10th
Edition. Ontario, Canada: Pearson Canada.

[3] Zumdahl, S. & Zumdahl, S. 2014. Chemistry, 9th Edition. Belmont, CA: Cengage
Learning.