Antacids Lab Report

In this lab, two different titrations were performed with three different antacids to determine which brand is the most effective at the cheapest price. The antacids were ground up separately and approximately 0.2 grams of it was placed in a flask. Methyl Orange, an indicator, and a stir bar were added into the flask. The flask was then put on a stir plate which was under a buret with 0.1M hydrochloric acid. The acid was poured into the flask until there was a permanent pink colour. The acid was allowed to be poured for a little longer before the flask was removed and taken to a lab bench with a buret that contained 0.1 M sodium hydroxide, and the amount of acid used was recorded. The sodium hydroxide was added into the flask in small amounts

This was most likely the carbon dioxide escaping after the decomposition of the carbonic acid. The Tums tablets contained corn starch within them while the Life Brand only contained normal starch. Cornstarch has a much greater consistency than normal starch (Christensen), which means that the cornstarch had stopped the carbonic acid from decomposing. This is done so that the bodies natural buffer system can turn the carbonic acid into its conjugate base, bicarbonate, which will lower the pH as well if needed. The sodium hydroxide would have reacted with the carbonic acid to produce sodium bicarbonate and water making the solution slightly basic. It had been seen that this did not occur since the solution was orange, and when the one drop of base was added, then the solution turned yellow meaning that the sodium hydroxide and carbonic acid had

It was found that the average amount of calcium carbonate in a Tums Regular Strength tablet was 520 milligrams which is 20 milligrams more than the amount claimed on the bottle. The Tums Ultra Strength was found to contain an average of 1130 milligrams of calcium carbonate in a tablet, which means that it contains 130 milligrams more calcium carbonate than listed on the bottle. Lastly, it was found that the average amount of calcium carbonate in a tablet of the Life Brand antacids was 420 milligrams, which is 80 milligrams below the amount of calcium carbonate claimed on the bottle. It was calculated that the Tums Regular Strength costs 3.7 cents per tablet, the Tums Ultra Strength costs 7.6 cents per tablet, and the Life Brand costs 3 cents per tablet. It was concluded that the most cost-effective bottle was the Tums Regular Strength due to it containing nearly the same amount of calcium carbonate listed on the bottle with a percent error of 4% while the other products contained higher percent errors. As well, the Tums Regular Strength tablet neutralized the second most amount of acid on