Hello,
In class, we conducted a lab to find out an unknown organic acid.
Here's what I know about my acid.
- Melting point measured was ~120C
- low solubility (0.066g in 50mL water was difficult to dissolve)
- titrated against 0.65mL of 0.45M NaOH to end point (Phenolphthalein) with 0.066g of my acid.
- white powder or flakes (flat tiny squares). reflects light so some looks sparkly. dissolved in water has a faint foul smell.
I'm not sure if my calculations for the molar mass is right. I calculated the number of moles of NaOH, which is 0.0002925mol. I assumed that this is the number of moles of my organic acid, and with the mass of 0.066g, the molar mass of the organic acid is 225.6 g/mol
When I was researching, I first thought it was citric acid. Citric acid powder looks pretty much the same as my acid powder, melting point is within 30C (pretty decent given errors), molar mass is 192g/mol or 210g/mol. Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acidHowever, wikipedia says Citric Acid has a solubility of 73g/100mL which is high soluble unlike mine.
If you have any clue as to what my acid is, please suggests some. I appreciate your time and help. Thanks!