Question

The beaker used to obtain the standard NaOH solution needed to be dry, but the Erlenmeyer flask (where titration occurred) did not need to be dry before adding the vinegar solution. Why is it ok to add water to the vinegar solution but not the NaOH solution? (Simply stating that ‘water will be added to the vinegar solution anyway’ is NOT an acceptable answer!)

Answer 1

Ans :

The active ingredient in vinegar is acetic acid which is 4-5% by mass in the vinegar.

The titration reaction utilises 1:1 molar ratio of acid : base.

So some amount of water is added to the vinegar solution to dilute the acid , so that the NaOH used in the titration reaction is less. If water is not added to vinegar , the amount of NaOH used in the titration will be very much higher.

Then to minimise the amount of NaOH used in the experiment water is used to dilute the vinegar solution.