I have a question regarding titration of hydrochloric acid with sodium hydroxide. Assume you have a solution of NaOH with pH = 12. With this NaOH you titrate a HCl solution. Then, will the pH of the titration product, regardless of how much NaOH you add, ever reach a pH of 12?
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$\begingroup$ Theoretically, no. $\endgroup$ – orthocresol♦ Oct 18 '15 at 12:02
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$\begingroup$ Practically then, would it ever reach 12? $\endgroup$ – SSTT Oct 18 '15 at 12:08
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$\begingroup$ In practice, if you add enough, it would be so close to 12 that no instrument could tell you that it wasn't 12. $\endgroup$ – orthocresol♦ Oct 18 '15 at 12:35
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$\begingroup$ Okey, thanks! I understand mathematically why it cant equal 12 but can this be explained in terms of chemistry? $\endgroup$ – SSTT Oct 18 '15 at 12:49
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$\begingroup$ you could think of it in the reverse way - you add a fixed amount of HCl to a changing amount of NaOH. no matter how much NaOH you have, some of it will be neutralised by HCl and therefore the pH will be below 12. to be honest, no matter how you look at it (mathematical pov, or what I wrote), it's all the same thing in the end. $\endgroup$ – orthocresol♦ Oct 18 '15 at 12:52
