Discussion

The Winkler titration method measures the amount of dissolved oxygen in water
samples. The results of the experiments determine the health of a particular body of
water and can also predict other oxygen-related activities in the water (Soden,
2017).

Iodine is a moderately strong oxidizing agent making it valuable for titrating

dissolved oxygen. Iodide particle is a weak reducing agent, and is the premise of
deciding the measure of the solid oxidizing specialists like the oxygen in the
example water. This is finished by deciding the measure of I3 produced, which is
identical to the dissolved oxygen utilizing titration with thiosulfate.

The thiosulfate used for titration was first standardized using KIO3 as the primary
standard. KI crystals and sulfuric acid was added to the KIO3 solution one after the
other. KI crystals were added first or the solution may produce more O2 and can add
to the analyzed dissolved oxygen of the sample:

+ O2 + HIO
+ H
IO3

The resulting solution was titrated right away with Na2S2O3 as the titrant and
starch as the indicator. The first step of the process resulted to the following
reaction:

+ 3 I 2+ 3 H 2 O
+ 6 H
+5 I
IO3

Like other halogens, iodine reacts with water, yielding the reaction:

+ HIO

++ I
I 2 + H 2 O H

To prevent the forward reaction, and produce more of the desired I2, the solution
was made acidic by adding H2SO4 which will cause the equilibrium to shift to the
left due to the common-ion effect. This is also the same reason why excess KI was
added. Unreacted iodide does not interfere with the reaction but may be oxidized by
air if not titrated immediately.
 But the iodine has a low solubility in water, so it was first converted to a
complex consisting of I3- which is very soluble. This was done by dissolving I2 in a
potassium iodide solution:

I 3
I 2 + I

The I2 produced in this reaction was then titrated with Na2S2O3 which yielded the
reaction:

2
+S4 O6
2 2 I
I 2 +2 S 2 O3

From this titration, the molarity of thiosulfate can be calculated using the knowledge
that:

2
=3 moles I 2=6 moles S 2 O3
1 mole IO3

The endpoint of the reaction was indicated using starch. The starch indicator was
added just prior to the endpoint or when the yellow iodine color was about to fade.
It exhibited a deep blue color when it absorbed the iodine. When the iodine is
converted into iodide ion, the blue color disappears and the complete
disappearance of the color indicates the endpoint.

For the sample analysis, the same concepts were used to determine the amount of
dissolved oxygen. The dissolved oxygen was first added with NH4HCO3 to form a
more reactive oxygen-sensitive carbonate. If NH4HCO3 was not added, the
dissolved oxygen will not react or will react very slowly with the solution, even
though MnSO4 was already added. Then, a basic KI solution (NaOH with KI crystals)
was added to react with the Mn2+ ions and an OH- salt with Mn:

The dissolved oxygen and the exact amount of I2 was then determined by titrating
with thiosulfate, with the reaction:

2
+S4 O6
2 2 I
I 2 +2 S 2 O3
In the experiment, a fresh sea water sample collected from the Miag-ao beach was
analyzed using the winkler method described above. The sample was analyzed
immediately as bacterial action may affect the dissolved oxygen content of the
water. As the reagents were added, the tip of the transfer pipettes was kept just
below the surface of the water to prevent the penetration of more oxygen from the
air into the sample. It was found out that the water contained an average of 5.2362
ppm O2.

Dissolved oxygen is important to many types of life including fish, spineless

creatures, microscopic organisms and plants. These life forms utilize oxygen in
breath, like creatures ashore. Fish and shellfish get oxygen for breath through their
gills, while vegetation and phytoplankton require dissolved oxygen for respiration
when there is no light for photosynthesis 4. The measure of dissolved oxygen
required fluctuates from animal to animal. Scavengers, crabs, clams and worms
require negligible measures of oxygen (1-6 mg/L), while shallow water angle require
more elevated amounts (4-15 mg/L) (Dissolved Oxygen, 2017). Therefore, the
water sample weve collected from can sustain the life of fishes because the
samples were collected in the shallow part of the sea.

References:

Soden, J.M. "The Winkler Titration Method". Sciencing. N.p., 2017. Web. 30 Apr.
2017.

"Dissolved Oxygen - Environmental Measurement Systems". Environmental

Measurement Systems. N.p., 2017. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.