Question #24c1f

1 Answer
Apr 14, 2015

!! LONG ANSWER !!

For your titration, sulfuric acid will be in excess, i.e. you added insufficient sodium hydroxide.

Start with the balanced chemical equation for this neutralization reaction

H2SO4(aq)+2NaOH(aq)Na2SO4(aq)+2H2O

Notice that you have a 1:2 mole ratio between sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide, which implies that, regardless of how many moles of sulfuric acid you have, you need twice as many moles of sodium hydroxide in order for the base to not act as a limiting reagent.

Comparing the number of moles of sulfuric acid and of sodium hydroxide you add will tell how which one of the two is the limiting reagent and which one is the excess reactant.

Use the two solutions' molarity to determine the number of moles of each species added

C=nVn=CV

nH2SO4=0.155 M65.5103L=0.0102 moles H2SO4

nNaOH=0.416 M20.0103L=0.00832 moles NaOH

As you can see, you don't have enough moles of sodium hydroxide present. The titration is not complete, which means that sulfuric acid is in excess.

The number of moles of sulfuric acid that will react is

0.00832moles NaOH1 mole H2SO42moles NaOH=0.00416 moles

You have an excess of sulfuric acid of

nH2SO4excess=0.01020.00416=0.00604 moles

Since you have a 1:1 mole ratio between sulfuric acid and sodium sulfate, the number of moles of the latter produced by the reaction will be equal to the number of moles of the former that react

nNa2SO4=nH2SO4=0.00416 moles

As a result, this reaction will produce

0.00416moles142.04 g1mol=0.591 g Na2SO4

If all the moles of sulfuric acid would have reacted, the produced mass would have been

0.0102moles142.04 g1moles=1.45 g Na2SO4

This is your theoretical yield - the mass that would have been produced if the sodium hydroxide wouldn't have acted as a limiting reagent.

SIDE NOTE The percent yield will be

% yield=actual yieldtheoretical yield100

% yield=0.591 g1.45 g100=40.8%