Computational Chemistry Lab 1

Investigation 4

How Much Acid Is in

Fruit Juice and Soft
Drinks?
Judy Park: Pre-lab Q5-9, Data Collection and Computation,
Argumentation and Documentation
Paul Lee: Pre-lab Q1-4, Post-lab
Anthony Hower: Abstract, Materials/Procedures, Conclusion

Abstract:
The purpose of this lab is to develop and perform our own procedure to determine the
amounts of acid in common juices and soft drinks. We did so by titrating NaOH into our
groups soda: Coca-Cola while monitoring its pH with a pH probe. By determining the
amount of acid in the drinks, we can understand why such drinks should be avoided be in
order to prevent chest pain due to stomach acid coming in contact with the lower part of
the esophagus and irritating it over time. In the end, we determined that Coca-Cola
required 0.056mol/L of NaOH to neutralize.
 AP Chemistry Investigation 4 Lab Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prelab Guiding Questions ....................................................................................................... 3

Preparation .............................................................................................................................. 4

Procedure ........................................................................................................................................ 4

Part 1 ...................................................................................................................................... 4

Part 2 ...................................................................................................................................... 4

Materials ......................................................................................................................................... 6

Data Collection and Computation .......................................................................................... 6

Part 1 ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Part 2 ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Argumentation and Documentation........................................................................................ 7

Post lab questions ................................................................................................................... 9

Reference .............................................................................................................................. 11

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 AP Chemistry Investigation 4 Lab Report

PRELAB GUIDING QUESTIONS

1. Write the complete chemical equation for the reaction of a solution of sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) with hydrochloric acid (HCl).
a. NaOH(aq) + HCl(aq) → NaCl(aq) + H2O(l)
2. How many mL of 0.1 M HCl are required to react completely with 5 mL of 0.1 M
NaOH?
a. 5 mL
3. If equal molar amounts of NaOH and HCl are mixed, when the reaction is complete
what will be the chemical species in the resulting solution?
a. NaCl and water.
4. What will be the pH of the mixture in question 3, acidic, neutral, or basic? Explain.
a. Neutral, because NaCl does not affect the pH of the solution since it does
not provide or take away H+ ions from the solution, and water itself is
neutral.
5. Write the complete chemical equation for the reaction of a 0.1 M solution of acetic
acid
a. HCH3COO + H2O ↔ H3O+ + CH3COO-
6. How many mL of the 0.1 M NaOH solution will be required to react completely
with 5 mL of a 0.1 M acetic acid (CH3COOH) solution? Explain.
a. 5mL. For the reaction between any base and acid, to react completely, the
same number of moles of OH- needs to react with H+. Therefore, According
to nMV=nMV,
n𝑏 M𝑏 V𝑏 = n𝑎 M𝑎 V𝑎 = 1 × 0.1M × 5mL = 1 × 0.1M × 𝑎mL
𝑎 = 5mL

7. When the reaction is complete what will be the pH (acidic, neutral, basic) of the
solution in question 6? Explain.
a. The pH of the solution will be basic. The conjugate base of a weak acid is
always a strong base. Therefore, since acetic acid is a weak acid, the
conjugate base, CH3COO- will be a strong base.
8. How is it possible to determine when an acid-base reaction is complete when the
concentration of one of the reactants is unknown?
a. An indicator must be added into the solution, such as a color indicator like
bromothymol blue. Since the pH of a titration shoots up quickly near the
equivalence point, an indicator can easily detect the equivalence point easily.
A pH probe may also be used to find the equivalence point. By using the pH
probe to find the volume of titrant where the pH shoots up, it would indicate

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 AP Chemistry Investigation 4 Lab Report

when the acid-base reaction has reached the equivalence point and reacted
completely.
9. Using the table below, explain how indicators are chosen and used during titrations.

a. The indicator is chosen by considering the pH of the products of the

titration. An indicator is used to visualize the volume of titrant required to
reach the equivalence point. Therefore, the indicator must be chosen so that
the pH range may contain the equivalence point. For example, if the
equivalence point of a solution is approximately 9, phenolphthalein must be
used as the indicator to indicate the equivalence point at pH 9. The drastic
change of pH near the equivalence point will allow the indicator to show a
rough estimate of the volume of titrant required for the titration.

PREPARATION

PROCEDURE

PART 1
In the first art of our lab, we used a pipette to put 5 mL of 0.1M HCl into a beaker with a
few drops of bromothymol blue indicator, then dripped 0.2M NaOH through the buret,
counting the number of drops until the color changes from yellowish-pink to blue. We used
bromothymol blue because it was an available option for our group that would be suitable
for identifying the pH change, allowing us to practice and be familiar with the titration for
the second part of our lab.

PART 2
For the second part of our lab, as we used Coca-Cola for our drink to test, we could not use
a pH color indicator because we would not have been able to view a color change in the
dark drink. That, along with the benefit of having data points throughout our titration, is
why we used a pH probe to monitor the change in pH. We measured out 70.5 mL of the
soda in a graduated cylinder, and put it into an Erlenmeyer flask, below our buret on the
titration apparatus. We used our pipette to fill the buret with 0.2 M NaOH up to a level that
was as full as possible while still being able to accurately monitor its amount (within the

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height level to our eyes). We also made sure to fill in the little air pocket at the bottom of
the buret. After rinsing it well, we put the measurement part of the pH probe into the flask,
and began recording the current pH after every mL of NaOH that we dripped, until we
reached a point where the pH began to increase more slowly again. Whenever we needed to
refill the buret, we recorded our starting point and stopping point for each filling in order to
accurately measure the amount that we actually put in. After we did this titration twice, we
cleaned up our materials and put them away.

Figure 1: Titration Apparatus without pH probe

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 AP Chemistry Investigation 4 Lab Report

MATERIALS
The materials that we used in this lab were 2 150mL beakers, a 50mL buret, bromothymol
blue indicator, a pH probe, a 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask, 0.1M HCl, 0.2M NaOH, a 25 mL
graduated cylinder, a small bottle of Coca-Cola, several volumetric pipettes, and wash bottles
with distilled water.

DATA COLLECTION AND COMPUTATION

PART 1
5.0mL of 0.1M Acetic Acid was mixed with an indicator. It took a total of 81 drops
(3.9mL) of 0.2M NaOH for the indicator to change color from colorless to blue. However,
because the change in the indicator occurred extremely quickly, some additional drops of
NaOH was added. This error will have caused additional drops of NaOH to drip down
through the buret, meaning that, to reach the equivalence point, less than 3.9mL of NaOH is
required.

PART 2

Starting with an initial volume of 70.5mL of Coca-Cola, a total of 35mL of NaOH was
added throughout the entire titration. In Coca Cola, there is a combination of Phosphoric
acid (H3PO4), Carbonic acid (H2CO3), and Citric acid (C6H8O7), with all 3 being polyprotic
acids. They have multiple Ka values, each one for each of its hydrogens. The mixture of the
Ka values for the polyprotic acids in their different forms define the equivalence points for
Coca Cola. In our experiment, the first equivalence point for the first hydrogen atom is
approximately at pH=2.9 after adding 4.5mL, while the second equivalence point is at
pH=8.4 after adding 27.5mL. It took 0.0009 moles of NaOH to reach the first equivalence
point and 0.0055 moles of NaOH to reach the second equivalence point. Our focus on the
acidity of Coca Cola places an emphasis on the 2nd equivalence point, as that is the point
where the acidity of the Cola is defined. The equivalence point for Coca Cola is slightly
basic with a pH higher than 7. This is because of the products of the acid-base reaction.
When a weak acid reacts with a strong base, the products of the reaction are water and a
salt. The resulting equivalence point of the reaction is basic because the conjugate base of
the weak acid is strong. Therefore, the conjugate bases of mainly phosphoric acid and
carbonic acid is a strong basic salt, which makes the equivalence point higher than pH=7.

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 AP Chemistry Investigation 4 Lab Report

pH vs. amount of 0.2M NaOH

12

10

6
pH

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
amount of 0.2M NaOH added (mL)

Figure 2: Titration curve of 0.2M NaOH and Coca-Cola

ARGUMENTATION AND DOCUMENTATION

Concentration of
Drink mL Drink Initial pH mL of Base
Base (M)
Group 1 Coke 70.5 2.2 0.2 27.5
Group 2 Sprite 50 3.29 0.2 13.5
Group 3 Orange Fanta 20 3.23 0.2 5.53
Group 4 Apple Soda 30 3.45 0.1 13.36
Group 5 Grape Juice 15 3.21 0.1 8.02
Table 3: Raw collective results for different drinks and their acidity.

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 AP Chemistry Investigation 4 Lab Report

moles of NaOH
Drink Initial pH mol/L of NaOH added
added
Group 1 Coke 2.2 0.005500 0.0561224
Group 3 Orange Fanta 3.29 0.001106 0.0433216
Group 2 Sprite 3.23 0.002700 0.0425197
Group 5 Grape Juice 3.45 0.000802 0.0348393
Group 4 Apple Soda 3.21 0.001336 0.0308118
Table 2: Comparative results based on mol/L of NaOH to reach equilibrium

According to our data, although there is a correlation, there is no causation that a

low initial pH requires a greater amount of NaOH to neutralize. The amount of NaOH
required depends on not the initial pH, but how much of each acid is in the drinks. For
example, for two solutions in the same pH, a solution of HCl with a pH of 3 would be
easier to neutralize than a solution of HCH3COO with a pH of 3. The same pH does not
necessarily indicate the same amount of NaOH required. The correlation merely exists
because many of the drinks contain the same acids – carbonic acid, phosphoric acid, and
citric acid, just in different proportions. Although pH is important in our discussion of the
effects of a drink’s acidity in the stomach, unless all 5 drinks contained the same acid in the
same proportions, the pH is not as important. This sounds surprising in that, without much
background knowledge, it seems reasonable to think that a larger amount of OH- is required
to react with a larger amount of H+. However, other things like the dissociation of the acid
and the acid-base reaction must be considered as well.
During our experiment, we let the NaOH to drop into the solution at a constant rate
without stopping at each mL to allow the reaction to fully occur. This may have limited the
reaction from showing a sharp rise in the pH. As additional NaOH is constantly added, the
NaOH may require more time to find the right acids to react with. Additional NaOH may
have been added while some unreacted NaOH remained. Therefore, the change in pH may
have been miscalculated. To increase accuracy, we could drop only 1mL of 0.2M NaOH,
then wait for a few seconds before adding another 1mL of 0.2M NaOH, just to make sure
that the NaOH had finished reacting.
Another source of error was the fact that, while we were adding more 0.2M NaOH
into the buret in between adding the NaOH into the Coca Cola, the pH of the solution
continued to change. As the stirrer continued to whir inside the Coca Cola, the acids,
including carbonic and phosphoric acid, continued to react, which altered the pH value
even without the addition of more NaOH. This could be overcome by using a smaller
volume of Coca Cola as the analyte. By reducing the volume of Coca Cola, we can reduce
the volume of NaOH required, eliminating the necessity to add more NaOH into the buret.
Lastly, our experiment could be strengthened by increasing the number of trials.
Considering all the possible sources of human error, taking the average of a few trials
would increase the accuracy and consistency of our results in finding both the volume of
NaOH required and the pH of the equivalence point.

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CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the purpose of our lab was to determine the amount of acid is in everyday
fruit juice and soft drinks in order to understand the effects they can cause the human body,
such as by acid coming in contact with the lower esophagus, irritating its lining and causing
pain over time. By doing so, we are able to kill two birds with one stone, by both learning
the some of the dangers of such drinks and why they our intake of them should moderated,
as well as learning and gaining experience on how to perform a chemistry task that is very
common and essential for many aspects of chemistry: titrations. Through our preliminary
experiments, we learned and understood how to carry it our so that we could perform our
actual titrations into the soda to collect our data and address our central challenge of
determining the amount of acid in the drinks. As discussed in the Argumentation and
Documentation section, as the drinks contain many of the same acids, but in different
proportions, pH is not a very reliable indicator of the amount of acid actually in the drink.
Therefore, we measured the amount of acid in the drinks by how much acid was required to
neutralize it, which is a more reliable method of understanding the drink’s true
concentration of acid. In the end, by using the volume of drink we used, the Molarity of the
base, and the amount of base needed to reach an equilibrium point, we found that our
group’s drink, Coca-Cola, required 0.056mol/Lof NaOH to neutralize it.

POST LAB QUESTIONS

1. Suppose a fellow student chose to measure solution volumes using the beakers or
graduated cylinders provided. What effect would this have had on the calculated acid
concentration? How might this affect the number of significant figures in your final
answer? Explain your answers.
A. Since beakers and graduated cylinders cannot give us more accurate data with
more significant figures. In other words, when we get the volume with beakers
or graduated cylinders, we have to round the numbers or guess the next
significant figures, and this will make the acid concentration not accurate enough
since we don’t have enough significant figures for the data.
2. A fellow student rinsed the buret with water, but neglected to rinse the buret with
titrant before conducting the experiment. What effect would this have on the
calculated acid concentration in the juices or sodas? Why?
A. Since we are titrating base into the juice or sodas, the water inside the buret will
decrease the concentration of the base that we are putting in, so when we actually
start titrating, we will have to put more base into the juice to reach the
equivalence point. And if we calculate the acid concentration with that data, we
will get a much higher level of acid concentration than the actual concentration
in juices or sodas.
3. If you did not titrate a cola like Coke, Pepsi, or Dr. Pepper, find another lab group

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that did so, and ask them to discuss their procedure and results. What step was
necessary to determine the endpoint when titrating a cola with a standard sodium
hydroxide solution, and why did this step matter?
A. Our group titrated Coke, which has a dark color, so we cannot use indicators to
see the change in color. Therefore, we used pH probe to see the pH change in
Coke, and our group decided to end the titration when the pH change of Coke
was very small after passing a point that pH suddenly jumped (equivalence
point).
4. Imagine a lab team that consistently added base past the first appearance of a pale
pink color. What would happen to the average calculated acid concentration of the
juices or sodas? Explain your answer.
A. In order to calculate the acid concentration in juices or sodas, we only use the
point when pale pink color appeared, which is the equivalence point, so even if
the team did not stop adding base even after the color changed, it will not change
the calculated acid concentration.
5. Create a diagram that shows the molecular interaction between the acid and base as
the titration proceeds. Display this at four points along a titration curve: (a) when 0
mL of base is added, (b) when 5 mL of base is added, (c) at the equivalence point,
and (d) when an excess of base has been added, and provide an explanation for what
is happening at the molecular level.

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 AP Chemistry Investigation 4 Lab Report

A.
Figure 4: What happens to acids when base is added to beaker

6. After conducting this experiment, what recommendation(s) might you make for a
person with acid-reflux disease or tooth decay despite the fact that they drink juice
or diet sodas? Justify your answer.
A. We would recommend those people to stop drinking juice or sodas because the
acids in those drinks can make their symptoms worse. This is because juice and
sodas have fairly large amount of acids in it, and acid-reflux disease or tooth
decay are caused by the acids, so drinking sodas or juice is not good for them.

REFERENCE

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 AP Chemistry Investigation 4 Lab Report

mL of 0.2M NaOH pH
0 2.20
1 2.24
2 2.38
3 2.46
4 3.58
5 4.12
6 4.57
7 4.90
8 5.19
9 5.44
10 5.63
11 5.79
12 5.91
13 6.04
14 6.14
15 6.22
16 6.33
17 6.38
18 6.50
19 6.62
20 6.72
21 6.80
22 6.90
23 7.02
24 7.27
25 7.54
26 7.81
27 8.22
28 8.72
29 9.13
30 9.45
31 9.55

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32 9.71
33 9.87
34 9.99
35 10.10

Table 3: Coca-Cola change in pH vs. addition of 0.2M NaOH

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