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You are a quality control inspector for a nutritional products manufacturer. In

ID: 508171 • Letter: Y

Question

You are a quality control inspector for a nutritional products manufacturer. In the course of your job, you randomly select one sample of Vitamin C tablets about to be shipped to your distributor. The bottle indicates that each tablet contains 500. mg of Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid. (H2C6H6O6, Ka1=7.9 x 10-5, Ka2 = 1.6x10-12) Your laboratory technician dissolves one tablet in approximately 6 oz of hot water, to a final volume of 200. mL and titrates this solution with 0.100 M calcium hydroxide. She reports to you the volumes of base added to the beaker were as follows:

mL base added: pH:

0.0

3.3

7.1

10.6

14.2

17.8

21.3

25.2

28.4

34.7

For each of those points in the titration, what pH would you expect to be measured, if the Vitamin C tablets are indeed correctly labeled?

Explanation / Answer

molarity of Vit C solution = 0.5 g/176.124 g/mol x 0.2 L

                                        = 0.0142 M

Titration with 0.1 M Ca(OH)2 (dibasic)

Base (ml) = 0 ml

H2C6H6O6 + H2O <==> HC6H6O6- + H3O+

x moles of acid dissociated

Ka1 = [HC6H6O6-][H3O+]/[H2C6H6O6]

7.9 x 10^-5 = x^2/0.0142

x = [H3O+] = 1.06 x 10^-3 M

pH = -log[H3O+] = 2.975

Base (ml) = 3.3 ml

moles acid = 0.0142 M x 0.2 L = 0.00284 mmol

acid needs = 2 x 0.00284 = 0.00568 mmol

moles base = 0.1 M x 3.3 ml = 0.33 mmol

excess Ca(OH)2 = 0.32432 mmol/0.2033 = 1.6 M

[OH-] = 2 x 1.6 = 3.2 M

pOH = -log[OH-] = 0.50

pH = 14 - pOH = 13.50

Similarly we can calculate for other volumes of base added

Base (ml)         pH

   7.1               13.85

  10.6              13.67

  14.2              13.55

  17.8              13.45

  21.3              13.37

25.2              13.30

28.4              13.24

34.7              13.16

Ca(OH)2 is excess in all the cases.