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Does the standard solution go into the burette or the conical flask? (1 Viewer)

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The standard solution (substance with known concentration) goes in the burette.
 

bangladesh

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lol, the amount of fucking discussion/argument i had with my chemistry teacher over this is incredible. She strongly believed that it's ALWAYS Base in the burette..
 

Prawnchip

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So it's always standard in burette and the substance with the unknown in the conical flask right? I heard it doesn't actually matter where you put the standard solution
 

Cleavage

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it doesn't matter, standard solution can go in either

lol, the amount of fucking discussion/argument i had with my chemistry teacher over this is incredible. She strongly believed that it's ALWAYS Base in the burette..
I sympathise with this so much hahaha
 

someth1ng

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As long as you do the calculations accordingly, it really doesn't matter. However, it's typically preferred to put the standard in the burette because if you are working with multiple samples, you want to just refill the burette after each test - if you put your unknown there, you'd have to clean the burette each time which would waste the sample and be very tedious.

So yeah, if you are working with 1 sample, it doesn't matter but if you have multiple samples, it matters - the bottom line is to put the standard in the burette.
 

MaccaFacta

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It makes no difference at all, as long as you keep taking 25.0 mL aliquots from the same solution every time, and keep topping up the burette from the same solution every time. In fact, way back in the day, it was probably better to put acid in the burette as it was less likely to react with the grease that we used in the glass taps in the old burettes. A strong base could react with the grease to form a really sticky sludge that stuffed up the tap. But these days nearly all burettes have taps made from Teflon or some other non-stick plastic, so it doesn't matter.

But if you do put acid in the burette, keep in mind that the pH is going to start HIGH, then drop through the equivalence point, and finish LOW. If you draw a back-to-front pH curve after the titration you deserve to lose marks.

BTW I've been doing acid base titrations, as a student and as a teacher for more than 30 years...
 

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