Q4.55P

Question

An unknown amount of acid can often be determined by adding an excess of base and then “back-titrating” the excess. A 0.3471-g sample of a mixture of oxalic acid, which has two ionizable protons, and benzoic acid, which has one, is treated with 100.0 mL of 0.1000 M NaOH. The excess NaOH is titrated with 20.00 mL of 0.2000 M HCl. Find the mass % of benzoic acid.

Step-by-Step Solution

Verified
Answer

The mass % of benzoic acid is 70.38.

1Step 1: first write down the balanced molecular equation and find out the amount of NaOH used in the reaction:

Molecular equation:

 NaOH(aq)+2HCl(aq)NaCl(aq)+H2O(l)

Moles of excess NaOH are:

 moles of excess NaOH=(20mlHCl) (1lit1000ml) (0.2000mol HCl1lit HCl solution) (1mol NaOH1mol HCl) 

=4x10-3molNaOH

Now, the total moles of NaOH are:

=(100ml NaOH) (1lit1000ml) (0.1000mol NaOH1lit NaOH)

Total moles of NaOH 

=0.0100molNaOH

Used moles of NaOH are:

 molesofNaOHused=totalmolesofNaOH-excessmolesofNaOH

=0.01molNaOH-4x10-3molNaOH=6x10-3molNaOH

2Step 2: Now write down the molecular equation for back titration and calculate the mass% of benzoic acid by calculating its mass:

Back – titration equation:

 C2H2O4(aq)+C7H6O2(aq)+3NaOH(aq)C2O4Na2(aq)+C7H5O2Na(aq)

Mass of benzoic acid is:

 mass of benzoic acid=(6x10-3molNaOH)(1molC7H6O23molNaOH) (122.13gmC7H6O21molC7H6O2)

The mass percent of benzoic acid is:

 

=0.2443gmC7H6O20.3471gmC7H6O2x100%


massofbenzoicacid=70.38%