Sprite Titration
By: William Aldrich, Chris Eisenhart, and
John Miller
May 10, 2011
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Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to compare the corrosive effects of non- titrated Sprite
with titrated sprite, using two bases to lessen the pH to see if the level of pH affects the
corroding power; the concentration of Sprite in each of the titrated solution will also be
discovered.
Background Information:
o
Sprite, like any other soft drink, has its acidic nature. It contains the common
citric acid, and because of the carbonated water, it also contains carbonic acid.
Along with the ingredients that make the beverage acidic, there is also sugar,
flavorings, preservative (E211) and an acidity regulator (E331). The preservative
is also known as sodium benzoate and the acidity regulator is a type of sodium
citrate. This acidity regulator controls the pH of the drink so it is not harmful to
the human body. It also adds some taste. Sprite has a pH of about 4 (3.91-1.08)
and although it is not very acidic, it does have acidic capabilities. Titration is an
analytical method in which a standard solution is used to determine the
concentration of an unknown solution. An indicator is placed into the acidic
solution that is being tested (in this case, the Sprite) and a base is poured into it,
drop by drop. When the ions in the base and the acid equal out, the indicator color
will change and the solution will have reached its equivalence point. This
equivalence point will be closer to neutral than the acid is by itself and should
have less corrosive abilities.
o
Titration equation- Acid ( M*V*N) = Base (M*V*N)
 N= number of hydrogen moles in the base and the acid ( for example
H2SO4, Sulfuric Acid has 2 hydrogen moles)
 M= Molarity or concentration for the base and the acid
 V= volume or amount of base and acid
 Bromothymol Blue will be the indicator used to change the color of the
sprite .This indicator will start as yellow, and it will change to blue once it
reaches a pH range of 6.0- 7.6 . Sprite has a starting pH of 3.9 so once the
pH is reduced to the mention range it will change color.
 In this lab, Sodium Hydroxide(NaOH), and Ammonium Hydroxide
(NH4OH) will be used to titrate the Coca-Cola decreasing the pH of the
soda, and hopefully the corroding power.
Sodium Hydroxide severely irritates the respiratory system, and it causes
corroding and leaves severe tissue damage in the digestive tract. Also, this base
o
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will burn skin and leave burns and scars with great damage: the base will cause
the same damage to the eyes.
Ammonium Hydroxide causes irritation to respiratory tract in low concentration
but can be fatal in high concentrations. If ingested ammonium hydroxide is toxic
and may cause death. Nonetheless, this base only causes irritations.
Hypothesis: When the cheese is placed in the three solutions, it will dissolve least in the
Ammonium Hydroxide by at least two grams.
Materials:
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Buret
Ring Stand
Buret Clamp
Coca-Cola (original)
1.0M NaOH
1.0M NH4OH
Methyl Orange
Water
3 250mL Erlenmeyer Flasks
Discard Beaker
3 Similar Pieces of Cheese
Scale
3 rubber stoppers
Procedures:
1. Select a buret to use for the experiment. Rinse buret with water. Fill the pipet with a
small portion of 1.0 M NaOH and then release into a discard beaker. Set up the titration
equipment. Carefully attach the buret to the ring stand using a buret clamp. Obtain an
Erlenmeyer flask.
2. Carefully transfer 50 mL of Coca-Cola to the Erlenmeyer flask. Add 5 drops of Methyl
Orange indicator to the flask.
3. Carefully add 100 mL of 1.0 M NaOH to the buret.
4. Add base to this well, dropwise, with swirling, until a faint yellow color is observed
that remains for 30 seconds on standing. Record the amount of NaOH required to keep
the color change.
5. Repeat this procedure using a new sample of Coca-Cola with Methyl Orange added to
it. Also, replace the 1.0M NaOH with 1.0M NH₄OH .
6. Check your data. Your first titration should be similar to your second titration. If they
are not, you need to be able to account for the differences.
7. Fill a third flask with 50 mL of regular Coca-Cola.
8. Cover all three solutions with a stopper and left them sit over night.
8. Clean up the titration equipment.
9. Get a scale and zero it in, then measure the weight of the cheese
10. Drop a piece of cheese in each of the flasks at the same time and cover the flasks with
stoppers again. Record any observations.
11. While the cheese dissolves, calculate the concentration of coke in the two titrated
solutions.
12. Allow the cheese to dissolve for 75 minutes
13. Finally, weigh the cheese from each of the three solutions, record the data and
calculate difference in weight.
Data/Observations
Trial #
1
Drops of Bromothyml
Blue
5-10
Volume of Sprite
Volume of NaOH
50mL
3.2 mL
Concentration of Citric Acid Titrated with NaOH- .032 M
100M=(3.2mL), M= 3.2/100 = .032 M
Trial #
1
Drops of Bromothyml
Blue
5-10
Volume of Sprite
Volume NH4OH
50mL
6.5 mL
Concentration of Citric Acid Titrated with NH4OH- .065M
100M= (6.5mL), M = 6.5/100 = .065 M
Observations- Just Sprite Cheese floats and fizzing occurs around the
edges of the cheese.( immediately after
placing cheese in)
After Dissolving overnight Clear liquid
 Half of the cheese is sunk
 Few cracks in cheese
 Very small particles
 Small bubbles on cheese.
 Cheese owned a dark Yellowish-orange
color
Observations- Sprite titrated with NaOH Cheese does not float and fizzing does not
occur( immediately after placing cheese in)
After Dissolving overnight Less particles are floating around
 Greenish, murky liquid
 Cheese is light yellow in the middle and
fades to white on outer edges
ObservationsSprite titrated with NH4OH Cheese does not float and fizzing does not
occur( immediately after putting cheese in)
After Dissolving overnight Jade Green, murky liquid
 Cheese is light yellow in middle, fades to
white on outer edges
 Parts of the cheese broke off
 Cracks in the cheese
Weight of cheese (in grams)
Before
After
Difference
Just Sprite
4.281g
2.684g
1.597 g
Sprite with Sodium Hydroxide
4.519g
2.106g
2.413g
Sprite with Ammonium Hydroxide
5.028g
3.379g
1.649g
Analysis: In class today, the corroding power of non-titrated sprite and sprite titrated with both
NaOH and NH4OH was tested. The titration was done to decide if the level of pH affected the
amount of cheese dissolved. Also, the concentration of coke in each titrated solution was
discovered, simply to incorporate more parts of properties of acid and bases. Nonetheless, after
titrating the bases, reducing their pH to about 7, the cheese was placed in all three solutions to
dissolve over night. While the cheese dissolved, the concentrations for the sprite were discovered
in the two titrated solutions; Sprite had a concentration of .065M when titrated with ammonium
hydroxide and had a concentration of .032M. After letting the cheese dissolve over night, the
cheese from the titrated solutions broke into a number of diminutive pieces and required filtering
to extract all the cheese. Next, the mass of the cheese from each solution was measured to
determine the amount of cheese that dissolved. Furthermore, the sprite titrated with Sodium
Hydroxide lost 2.4 grams, the sprite titrated with ammonium hydroxide lost 1.6 grams and the
non-titrated sprite lost 1.5 grams. Thus, the sprite titrated with NH4OH possessed the most
corrosive power, well at least when dissolving cheese. Also, this means when dissolving cheese
the lower the pH, the more cheese that dissolves.
Works Cited
Carter, J. S. "PH Testing Results." Biology at Clermont College - University of Cincinnati. J.
Stein Carter, 21 Sept. 2010. Web. 09 May 2011.
"E211 - Sodium Benzoate - Preservatives." Food Figures - Food Additives (E Numbers) Safety
Information, Food Database, Nutrition Information, Health Information. Web. 09 May
2011.
"Food-Info.net : E-numbers : E331 Sodium Citrates." Food-Info. Food-Info, 5 Mar. 2011. Web.
09 May 2011.
“Safety Data for Ammonium Hydroxide.” www.msds.chem.ox.ac.uk. 29 March 2011. PTCL
Safety. N.pag. Web. 9 May 2011.
“Safety Data for Sodium Hydroxide.” www.msds.chem.ox.ac.uk. 17 September 2011. PTCL
Safety. N.pag. Web. 9 May 2011.
"Sprite : Ingredients : Nutrition : GDA - Coca-Cola GB." Home of Coca-Cola UK : Diet Coke :
Coke Zero - Coca-Cola GB. The Coca-Cola Company, 2010. Web. 09 May 2011.