Circular Competency Explanation
In this lab, there was a titration reaction which occurred. A titration reaction is a neutralization reaction using a unique technique. You put a given amount of acid into an Erlenmeyer flask with a couple of drops of phenolphthalein as an indicator. After that, you put the base in a burette and add it drop by drop sometimes by doing the half drop method when you are close until the color of the mix changes. After, we find the initial volume and the final volume and subtract the two reveling the amount needed for a neutralization reaction to occur. In this lab, the titration was used to find the volume of NaOH needed for a reaction to occur between NaOH and 10mL of HCl. The end point occurred when the drops of NaOH were visible for thirty seconds and the solution became a visible pale pink. The results we found in this lab were the Molarity of the [HCl] = 0.146M. The average volume of the NaOH was 14.60mL, and lastly the moles of the average NaOH were 0.00146 mol HCl.
Core Competency Reflection
We used our critical thinking skills throughout this lab to successfully find the volume needed of NaOH for a neutralization reaction with 10mL of HCl. We ran through four trials to find the volume needed. We learned from our failures to eventually do it right. For example, in the first trial, we rushed not knowing we had to take it slow, drop by drop to find the right volume. We improved on the next run, getting closer to our goal. Additionally, it took us a couple of attempts to find the correct colour of pink to look for. Once we found what we were looking for, we got the right shade of pink for the next trial. We used a kind of guess and check technique, learning from our mistakes from our past trials to improve on our next this eventually ended in success with us finding the correct volume of NaOH.