Ask AI: What happens in the Conductometric titration of a mixture of a hydrochloric acid and acetic acid with a sodium hydroxide

Conductometric titration involves measuring the electrical conductivity of a solution. In your scenario the titration is conducted with a mixture of acetic acid and hydrochloric acid using a sodium hydroxide solution. Here's what generally happens: 1. The sodium hydroxide (NaOH) will titrate with both the acetic acid (CH3COOH) and the hydrochloric acid (HCl). NaOH is a strong base, HCl is a strong acid and the acetic acid is a weak acid. 2. Initially, sodium hydroxide reacts with the hydrochloric acid. Since both are strong electrolytes, they will completely ionize in the solution, forming water (H2O) and sodium chloride (NaCl). Sodium chloride has high conductivity due to complete ionization. 3. After all the hydrochloric acid has reacted, the sodium hydroxide starts to react with the acetic acid. The reaction produces water and sodium acetate (CH3COONa). 4. In this case, the reaction does not completely ionize because acetic acid is a weak acid, thus, the conductivity of the solution will decrease. This is because sodium acetate is a weak electrolyte. 5. The conductivity of a solution is measured throughout the titration process and a plot is made with volume of titrant (NaOH) on the x-axis and conductivity on the y-axis. 6. The plot generally first shows a decrease in conductivity as strong acid (HCl) gets neutralized, a minimum point when all HCl is neutralized, and then increase in conductivity as NaOH begins to neutralize the weak acid (CH3COOH); finally it shows a rapid increase when the neutralization of acetic acid is complete and excess NaOH is being added. Remember for every chemistry experiment, safety precautions should be applied including wearing of lab coat, safety goggles, gloves, and working in a well-ventilated room or under a fume hood.