Neutralisation

What happened to this was, we added too much acid
in our base. When you add too much acid, it'll become
acidic. In order to make it neutral, we need to add more
base to the solution.

A chemical reaction occurs when you mix together an acid and a base. The base cancels out the effect of the acid. The reaction is called a neutralisation reaction because a neutral solution is made if you add just the right amount of acid and base together.

Aim: To observe a neutralisation reaction.

Equipment: A test tube, test tube rack, L-1 Na₂CO₃ (sodium carbonate), 1 mol L-1 HCI (hydrochloric acid), dropper or dropper bottle, Universal indicator solution.

Why do we need to add Universal indicator in our solution?
It's important to justify the solution if it's a base or acidic or
even neutral.

This is the acid. A VERY STRONG ACID.

Method: 

1. Add approximately 1-2 ml of Na₂CO₃ and place the tube into the test tube rack. Add 3-5 drops of Universal indicator solution.

2. Using a dropper bottle, add HCI drop by drop. Be careful because adding even a small amount of extra acid can mean you'll miss the neutralisation point.

What happened with the experiment?

   - Playing with these kinds of experiments is really cool to see. I've never thought that it was actually hard to achieve the desired colour. The colour of the Universal indicator was green when we were putting it in the test tubes. If you've put so much acid (even just a little too much) it will affect the pH of the solution, just like what happened in most of our solution which is acidic (red)! However, if you've put so much base, it will also turn your solution into basic which is colour blue or purple. I learned that when you're in chemistry, you need some control on this subject OR you'll fail just being an aggressive chemist. 

We succeeded once out of 6 tries to get the neutral state of the solution.