http://faculty.ycp.edu/~jleake/quant/Experiment%206.

htm
Experiment 6: EDTA titration of the hardness of water
Purpose:
The object of this lab is to design an experiment to determine the hardness of
water. To do this and EDTA titration is performed to find the total concentration of
metals in the water. The total concentration is looking at the concentrations of
Ca2+ and Mg2+. Then another titration is performed to determine the individual
amounts of Ca2+ and Mg2+ in the sample of tap water.
Procedure:
Standardization of EDTA:
1. weigh out .6 g EDTA and dissolve in a 500 ml volumetric flask.
2. weigh enough calcium carbonate to require at least 25 ml of titrant. Add 3 ml of
ammonia buffer.
3. Titrate with EDTA for three trials.

Analysis of tap water:

Determination of total metal concetration:
1.
2.
3.
4.

pipet a 25 ml sample of tap water into a clean 250 ml flask.

add 3 ml of buffer (pH 10) and 6 drops of calmagite indicator.
begin to titrate and add EDTA until the color changes to blue.
repeat for three good trials.

Determination of Ca2+ and Mg2+ separately:

1.
2.
3.
4.

pipet a 25 ml sample of tap water into an Erlenmeyer flask.

add 15 drops of 50 wt% NaOH and swirl.
add 6 drops of indicator.
titrate with EDTA until blue and occasionally swirl. Continue until solution remains blue.

Data:
Standardization of EDTA:
Trial
1
2
3

CaCO3 (g) EDTA (ml)

.0098 g 25.6 ml
.0081 g 25.9 ml
.0085 g 25.1 ml

Total metal concentration:

Trial
1
2
3

EDTA (ml)
10.9 ml
9.1 ml
8.7 ml

Ca2+ concentration:
Trial
1
2
3

EDTA (ml)
11.2 ml
11.1 ml
11.7 ml

Calculations:
Preparation of ammonia buffer:
14.8 * V=1.8 *250
V= 30.4 ml
Molarity of EDTA:
.5971 g * (1 mol/372.25 g) * (1/.5 L)= .0032 M
Grams of Calcium carbonate needed for a 25 ml titration:
(.0032 mol/1L) * .025 L * (1 mol CaCO3/1 mol EDTA) * (100.1 g/1mol)= .008 g
Preparation of 50 wt% NaOH:
(39.95 g/1mol) *.5= 19.9975 g for 1 L * .05 1 g
grams used= 1.0784 g
Molarity of EDTA:
Trial 1: .0098 g CaCO3 (1 mol/100.1 g) * (1 mol EDTA/1 mol CaCO3) * (1/.0256
L)= .00382 M
Trial 2: .00312 M
Trial 3: .00338 M
Average: .00344 M
Standard Deviation: .00035
Total Ca2+ and Mg2+ in tap water:
Trial 1: (.00344 mol EDTA/1 L) * .0109 L= .0000375 mol
Trial 2: .0000313 mol
Trial 3: .0000299 mol
Average: .0000329 mol
Standard Deviation: 4.04 x 10-6
Ca2+ and Mg2+ separately:
Trial 1: .0112 L EDTA * (.00344 mol EDTA/1 L)= .0000385 mol * (40.08 g/1 mol)= .
00154 g Ca2+
Trial 2: .00153 g
Trial 3: .00161 g
(mol Ca2+ and Mg2+-mol Ca2+) * (24.31 g/1 mol)= g Mg2+
*this calculation can not be done because the moles of Ca2+ calculated is greater than
the moles of Ca2+ and Mg2+. This would result in a negative answer which is not
possible.
Ppm:
.0000329 mol (40.08g Ca/1mol) * (1000 mg/1 g) (1/.025 L)= 52.7 ppm

Conclusions:
There was very little magnesium present in the tap water because no
Mg(OH)2 precipitated when base was added in part 2. This is why the calculation
cannot be done to calculate the amount of magnesium in the water. In the trials to
determine Ca2+ and Mg2+ separately, more EDTA was added than in the trials to
determine total metals in the water. However, the number of moles calculated were
about equal in both parts which backs up the point that almost no Mg 2+ was present in
the water. Overall, this lab was very successful. It enabled us to find the hardness of
the tap water and work at designing experiments.