Valentine conversations between HCl and NaOH

(Dedicated to my dear cadre of Michigan, USA)

Anant Babu Marahatta
Ph.D. student in Chemistry
Tohoku university
Japan

It is well known that both HCl and NaOH is strong acid and strong base respectively. During their conversations, they themselves confuse each other and request to the phenolphthalein (hph) for checking the neutralization. Here are their detail conversations:

HCl- Hi, how are you today?

NaOH- Hello!! I am ok, what about you? It’s so cold, isn’t it?

HCl- Yeah, you are right. It’s snowing too. The nature also supports the valentine couple like us.

NaOH- I agree. By the way, what’s your plan today? May I know?

HCl- Sure!! I am planning to react with strong base like you in the presence of hph even though we will be completely neutralized /destroyed at the end point.

NaOH- Showing chemical reaction is not a big deal but among us we have to be careful while acting as a titrant and titrand. I mean, who must be kept into the burette?

HCl- Yeah, that’s the good point. But it’s universally accepted that you must be pipetted out and kept into the receiver [conical flask] and I must be poured drop wise from the burette till the pink color of hph created by your OH ion disappeared. You must be shaked uniformly for the vigorous reaction.

NaOH- What do you think about me? I am not like NH4OH. I am as strong as you. One mole [Avogadro’s number] of you can be easily neutralized by one mole of me. Then why should I be kept into the receiver?

HCl- In terms of strength, I agree with your point. But you know, “Acid is acid”. We have to follow the scientific evidences otherwise there will be problematic during complete neutralization processing. And we must use hph properly so that it helps us to detect complete neutralization. It only gives the pink color dropped upon you which can be traced during reaction.

NaOH- Ok, I agree. But if I was made in China, the hph would not be the perfect indicator and I must have been kept into the burette. Any way, it’s out of our discussion.

HCl- In such case, methyl orange could be the best indicator but it is a rare case,however, valid to somebody else. Any way, we are at the end of our discussion now. Good luck!!

-------------Happy Valentine day!!!!-------------