Acid Base Properties of Salt Solutions Hydrolysis
Introduction The purpose of this experiment was to use both pH indicators and pH meters to study hydrolysis reactions of various salts. A hydrolysis reaction occurs when an ion reacts with water to produce H3O+ (an acid hydrolysis) or OH- (a base hydrolysis) in aqueous solution. By testing pH of the solution (acidic or basic) the hydrolyzing species was discovered where the stronger an acid the weaker its conjugate base and the stronger a base the weaker its conjugate acid. Base Hydrolysis: B-(aq) + H2O(l) „ BH(aq) + OH-(aq) Acid Hydrolysis: HA(aq) + H2O(l) „ A-(aq) + H3O+(aq) Procedure / Methods A detailed procedure may be found in reference (1). Results Table 1 shows the experimental data and results for all of the solutions tested. ... The pH indicators were used to experimentally estimate each solutions pH. ... An acidic pH (< 7) confirmed the solution underwent acid hydrolysis and a basic pH (>7) determined base hydrolysis.