The Acid-Base Package
Richard W. Ramette Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057 Jon L. Holmes University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
Note:	This program is included in both the General Chemistry Collection (SP-16) and the Advanced Chemistry Collection (SP-28). To Order General Chemistry Collection To Order Advanced Chemistry Collection
The Acid-Base Package performs the types of acid-base calculations normally encountered in introductory and analytical chemistry courses. This version for the Macintosh combines the functionality of the previous MS-DOS version (1) into a single program with an user interface that somewhat simulates the laboratory. The Acid-Base Package can calculate theoretical titration curve data for any mixture of acids and/or bases, using strong acid or strong base as titrant; calculate the theoretical pH for any mixture of acids and/or bases; plot species distribution curves for proton-transfer systems (a plots); and offer guidance for the preparation of pH buffers. The user gets the acid-base substances on which to perform these actions from the stockroom. The stockroom contains over 100 acid-base substances. Data such as pK values, molecular weights, and formulas for each substance are available. The stockroom can be searched for substances that meet a set of specifications provided by the user. For example, one may find all diprotic acids within a specified range of molecular weights that also have one of their pK values in a specified range. Alternatively, one may find the acid-base substances suitable for preparing a buffer of a desired pH. Additional acid-base substances can be added to the stockroom by the user. Titration curve generated by "The Acid-Base Package" for 0.1M "mystic acid" (pK values 1.96, 5.91, 9.27) Once the desired substances are retrieved from the stockroom, they are added to a beaker at specified concentrations. Subsequently, the beaker solution can have its pH measured, be titrated, or have a species distribution curve as a function of pH plotted for one of its substances. When measuring the pH the user can choose whether to include the effect of ionic strength on activity coefficients. Additionally when titrating, the titrant concentration, pH range to be included in the calculation, and precision of the data may be set by the user. Species distribution curves may be either linear or logarithmic with respect to concentration. The Acid-Base Package comes with full documentation of the program, as well as a discussion of fundamental principles of titration curve calculations, the importance of ionic strength, suggested laboratory experiments, and examples of assigned exercises. Hardware and Software Requirements The Acid-Base Package runs on a Macintosh Plus, SE or SE/30, Classic or Classic II, any Macintosh II, Quadra, or PowerBook. The Acid-Base Package requires System 6.0.4 or greater. It can be run from an 800K disk drive; a hard disk is not required. The Acid-Base Package is compatible with System 7. Literature Cited Ramette, Richard W. The Acid-Base Package, J. Chem. Educ.: Software, 1989, IIB (2).

First Published: November 1992

Citation: Ramette, R. W.; Holmes, J. L. . The Acid-Base Package J. Chem. Educ. Software 4C2

Keywords: Lecture Aid; Computer Room; Simulation; High School; General; Analytical; Titration curves; pH; Buffers; Alpha plots

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Last Updated: July 19, 2001 Created: December 3, 1996	Created by: J. L. Holmes Comments to: jceonline@chem.wisc.edu
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