Answer to Question #93585 in General Chemistry for Susan murphy

Question

The wall of the flask is periodically rinsed with the previously boiled, deionized water from the wash bottle. Does this titrimetric technique result in an increase , a decrease or have no effect on the reported percent acetic acid in vinegar? Explain.

A drop NaOH titrant, dispensed from the buret, adheres to the wall of the Erlenmeyer flask but is not washed into vinegar with wash bottle. Does this error in technique result in the reported percent of acetic acid being too high, too low, or unaffected? Explain.

Answer 1

1. There will be no effect on the reported percent of acetic acid. The water does not affect the balance of the hydronium and hydroxide ions.
2. The percent of acetic acid will be reported as too high. More NaOH will have been believed to have been added than in actuality so it will be believed that there is a larger amount of acetic acid than there actually is.