Wulff 1 Brandon Wulff Ms.

Burris Scholars Biology 1 22 September 2011 pH Lab

Introduction Acids and bases are all over the environment. Humans are especially sensitive to acids and bases because that is what are body is based off of. Our body needs to maintain a specific pH to function properly. What is pH? pH is the potential hydrogen, or the power of hydrogen, in a specific substance. pH is divided into three sections: acids, bases, and neutral. The pH scale goes from 1-14. Everything from 1-6 on the pH scale is an acid, or acidic. Everything from 8-14 is a base, or basic. 7 is considered neutral on the pH scale. For example, water usually has a pH around 7, making it much safer for us to drink. Lemons have a lower pH making it acidic, and Ammonia has a higher pH making it basic. All acids taste sour and all bases taste bitter. In a chemical formula, acids begin their formula with an H+, for hydrogen. However, bases end with an OH-, for Hydroxide. The hydrogen atom is positively charged and the hydroxide atom is negatively charged. An example of an acid is HCl--Hydrochloric Acid. An example of a base is NaOH--Sodium Hydroxide. The main objective of this experiment is find the changes in pH after a solvent is added: One being a base, and the other being an acid. The groups will add drops of their base or acid to one of the eight solutions that will be provided. The groups will also work with their classmates to compare the abilities of different materials to resist pH changes. In other words, the groups will determine if certain materials change pH more rapidly than others. The groups will measure out their solutions and add the solvent to the solutions and will be followed by the observation of the fluctuating pHs on the handheld computer device. Each group of four will split up into two groups: one adding a base to the solutions, the other adding an acid to the solutions. The independent variables for the experiment are the different solutions. For example, water, liver, alkaseltzer, starch, egg whites, aspirin, gelatin, and sparkling water. The dependent variables are the amount of

Wulff 2 drops of the acid (HCl) or base(NaOH) that the groups put into each solution. The more of the acid that our group adds will take the pH of the original solution down. The more of the acid that is added to the solution will intensify the pH of the solution to be more like the acid, making it more acidic. The more of the base that is added to the solution will intensify the pH of the solution to be more like a base, making it more basic. If our group adds more of an acid to the solution, then the pH of the solution will drop from its original pH.

Results We were able to find out that the pH dropped almost every time more of the HCl is added to each solution. In addition, we found out that almost every time, except Alka-Seltzer, the pH of each solution increased every time more of the NaOH was added to each solution. The most acidic solution that we used was Aspirin, with an initial pH of 3.30. The least acidic solution that we used was egg whites, with an initial pH of 7.13. The material with the greatest change from its initial pH to its final pH was water with a total buffer range of 4.42. The material with the smallest change from its initial pH to its final pH was Alka-Seltzer with a total buffer range of 0.21. The data shows that when an acid is added to the materials, the pH of the material slowly lowers. The data also shows that when a base is added to the materials, the pH of the material slowly rises. In addition, in table two, it noticeable that water is in the middle of the table. In table three, it also shows that water is at the top, with the greatest change in pH.

Wulff 3 Table 1Results after adding HCl and NaOH Material Tested Add 0 Water 5 10 6.60 8.70 6.11 7.10 6.35 6.45 5.77 8.71 7.39 9.25 3.09 15 6.23 9.00 5.92 7.21 6.34 6.60 3.70 9.02 7.33 9.3 2.98 20 4.55 9.35 5.70 7.40 6.32 6.7 2.99 9.28 7.18 9.33 2.87 pH, after adding this many drops 25 3.11 9.50 5.51 7.65 6.26 6.83 2.80 9.47 7.02 9.38 2.76 30 2.83 9.73 5.28 7.95 6.25 6.91 2.70 9.53 6.90 9.48 2.68 pH 5.37 7.97 5.89 7.40 6.34 6.74 4.33 8.97 7.18 9.32 2.98 Total Buffer Range 4.42 2.48 1.15 0.90 0.21 0.37 3.53 1.18 0.49 0.25 0.62

Acid 7.25 7.00 Base 7.27 8.20

Liver

Acid 6.43 6.27 Base 7.45 7.05

Alka-Seltzer

Acid 6.46 6.40 Base 7.12 6.54

Starch

Acid 6.15 6.23 Base 8.35 8.45

Egg White

Acid 7.13 7.28 Base 9.26 9.23

Aspirin (not recorded during the lab) Gelatin

Acid 3.30 3.20

Base

Acid 6.41 6.39 Base 6.96 7.05

6.37 7.35 5.78

6.31 7.85 5.56

6.16 8.25 5.28

5.92 8.45 4.63

5.58 8.77 3.18

6.16 7.81 5.22

0.83 1.81 2.92

Sparkling Water Acid 6.10 5.99 (not recorded during the lab) Base

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90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

Table 1 Chart

pH Base pH Acid Total Buffer Range

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Table 2 Material Aspirin Starch Sparkling Water Water Liver Gelatin Alka-Seltzer Egg Whites Initial pH 3.30 6.15 6.10 7.25 6.43 6.41 6.46 7.13 Rank Most acidic 2 3 4 5 6 7 Least acidic

Table 3 Material Water Starch Sparkling Water Liver Gelatin Aspirin Egg White Alka-Seltzer Total Buffer Range 4.42 3.53 2.92 1.15 0.83 0.62 0.49 0.21 Rank Greatest change 2 3 4 5 6 7 Least change

Analysis

Wulff 6 1. The acidic beaker will already have remnants of an acid in the beaker before the material is added to the beaker, skewing the results. The same goes for the basic beaker. The beaker will already have remnants of a base in the beaker and that base will the skew the results. 2. The data supports our hypothesis because it did what it said it would. The pH of each material lowered as more of the acid was added to the materials. However, the other half of our group didnt clean the probe after each material, like our half of the group did. That lack of cleaning by our other half of the group may have skewed the results because some of the base from the previous material may have remained on the probe. 3. The Hydrochloric Acid, for the most part, made the pH of each material lower. This true for each initial and final pH. However, the pH from, for example, 0-5 for the acid of Starch raised, then dropped and continued to drop. The only explanation our group has for this may be the probethere is no other logical explanation. This happened because the pH of Hydrochloric acid was lower than the starting pH of the material, so the Hydrochloric acid brought that other pH down. It is like if you add an ice cube do a hot glass of water; the ice melts because the two temperatures are different. 4. This answer is much like #3the Sodium Hydroxide made the pH of each material raise from their original pH. However, our group did not do the base tests and for some of their testsstarch and egg whitestheir initial pH was completely different from ours. I believe that is because they did not clean their probe before putting their probe into the new solution. Almost every solution followed the pattern of the raising pH. This happened for the same reason why the acid lowered the pH of each solution the base had a higher pH and that pH combined with the original pH of the material to slowly raise the pH of the combined materials. 5. It is important to have the value of water in acid and water in base with every experiment so there is a control to work off of. The control is the initial materials pHs. In addition, each material needs to be tested with a base and an acid, because some materials may not react to bases and/or acids. 6. Of all of the substance, water reacted the most to acids and bases. Water is under the biological chemicals group. The reason why water reacted the most with the acids and bases is because water is

Wulff 7 also called the universal solvent. Both the Hydrochloric Acid and the Sodium Hydroxide reacted with the water greatly, proving that water is the universal solvent. 7. According to table 3, the best buffer is water, and the worst buffer is Alka-Seltzer.

Conclusion The original goal of the lab was to add bases and acids to the materials and record the data that we observed. According to our data, the water reacted the most to the acids and the basesincluding the buffer range. The least reactive materials are Alka-Seltzer and Egg White. Works Cited (http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/acidbase/faq/what-is-pH.shtml)