Study of Nature of Chemical Reactions using pH-Meter

Abstract

In general, nature of chemical reactions are studied by separating the products followed by analyzing the products using different methods like spectroscopic method, chromatohgraphic method etc. The objective of the present study is to investigate nature of chemical reactions using pH-meter. Two types of reactions are studied: (a) neutralization of a given NA2CO3 solution by HCl solution and (b) neutralization of a given NaOH solution by oxalic acid solution. In both the cases, one component is acid and the other component is base. So, a salt is produced as the main product but the nature of the reaction, i.e., whether the reaction occurs in single step or multiple steps, cannot be identified by any standard methods. In the present study the reaction is closely monitored using pH-meter. The detailed investigation clearly indicates that the neutralization reaction of a given Na2CO3 solution HCl by  solution occurs in two steps while neutralization reaction of a given NaOH solution by oxalic acid solution occurs in a single step. On the basis of experimental studies, the probable steps of each reaction are proposed to explain the above neutralization reactions.