Quantitative Determination of Citric and Ascorbic Acid in Powdered Drink Mixes: A High School or General Chemistry Experiment

Abstract

This article provides a method to quantitatively determine the amount of both citric and ascorbic acid in a given sample of a powdered drink mix. The total moles of acid in the sample are determined by titration with sodium hydroxide. Moles of ascorbic acid are determined by titration with potassium iodate. Moles of citric acid are determined by difference. Lab time is two–three hours.