Benzoic Acid Lab Report

The list of errors start from the beginning of the experiment. Although the numbers seem to be close to the actual values, there is still room for error with the numbers. What the class noticed first is that we could have been working with very impure benzoic acid. The benzoic acid we were given was made by the 102 chemistry students, meaning that it wasn’t properly made. Students have said that they were rushed and weren’t able to take their time to filter the solid out of the solution. We had to do this for our 102 lab, and I know that our class was being rushed, and it didn’t help that this was the first time working with a funnel filtration. Working with a possible impure benzoic acid is an important thing to note for this experiment. With the uncertainty of whether or not the benzoic acid was impure, the benzoic acid we could have been working with could have not been acid to begin with. A big error that ultimately had an effect on everything we measured was that the pH meter wasn’t fully calibrated since not all …show more content…
With all the data accumulated, measuring the pH after each 1 mL added, the data acquired gives us a pH curve which will tell us where our midpoint is at. If we recall from the lab manual, in the end pH = pKa at the midpoint. The graphical method will allow us to find the midpoint and by in doing so the pH will have been calculated. A graph will also visually give us a picture of the giant jump that we saw around 25 mL’s which was what the class average was around. A pH curve will tell us what the initial pH of the acid or base was, and will show us any curves, and how steep the slope is. By looking at the slope we get a sense of whether we are working with a strong acid/strong base combination or weak acid/strong base and vice versa combination. A simple calculation won 't show us all that, all it could do is tell us the Ka value. The graph will tell us more information about the reaction than one simple