Succinic acid, HOOC(CH2)2COOH, is a weak dibasic acid that is used in tablet form in health supplements.
A student plans to determine the mass of succinic acid in one tablet of a succinic acid health supplement.
The student carries out a titration with potassium hydroxide.
The end point occurs when both acidic protons in succinic acid have been replaced as shown in Equation 19.1.
The student uses the following method.
Stage 1 The student crushes four tablets of the health supplement and dissolves the powdered tablets in distilled water.
Stage 2 The student makes up the solution from Stage 1 to 250.0 cm3 in a volumetric flask.
Stage 3 The student titrates 10.0 cm3 portions of the solution obtained in Stage 2 with 0.0600 mol dm–3 potassium hydroxide, using phenolphthalein as the indicator.
The student carries out a trial titration, followed by three further titrations. The results are shown below.
| Titration | Trial | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Final burette reading / cm3 | 25.25 | 23.75 | 25.35 | 25.75 |
| Initial burette reading / cm3 | 2.50 | 1.30 | 2.65 | 3.20 |
| Titre / cm3 | | | | |