Expert: Henry Boyter - 2/28/2005

Question
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Followup To
Question -
I am conducting an experiment on which antacid neutralizes the
most stomach acid.  I am using vinegar and ph strips.  The more
I investigate this subject the more confused I am getting.  Am I
taking the right course of action.  I have been told different
ideas.  I was planning on grinding the antacid in the vinegar
solution and then recording the data from the ph strip.  Is this
the correct course of action?  Thank you for reading.
Answer -
Grind separately and measure the amount of powder you have to add
to the vinegar to get to a set pH.  You will probably need to dilute the
vinegar or it will take too much powder.  Shoot for a vinegar
concentration that takes 1.5-3 tablets to reach pH 5 or 7.
Thank you.  Am I understanding correctly:  I will dilute the vinegar and
use 1.5 - 3 tablets to try to reach ph 5 or 7.  The strips I have have 4
blocks of color on them.  They are ph-fix 0-14.  The lowest number
represents the least acid , is this correct?

Answer
Close.  Weigh and add potions of the ground material until you get a certain pH. You may need to try different portions.  It is weight you need first, not number of tablets.  You then tranlate back to number of tablets and report both.

Ask your instructor for any further help.