Many a student nightmare originates in chemistry labs. Titration is one of them. It may be a big word but it’s a simple process to detect a solution’s potency. It requires sucking in acid through a pipette (a thin glass tube) to measure it.

A measured amount of a solution of an unknown concentration is added to a known volume of a second solution. There is an indicator to show when the reaction is complete and then the concentration of the unknown solution is calculated. This causes problems because students trying out the experiment end up gulping in the acid. “When it is swallowed, the mouth becomes dry and it seems that the teeth will chip off.

Teachers just ask us to spit out the acid and wash the mouth. I wish there were other ways to carry out the experiment,” says Aparajita Tiwari, a class 12 student of Delhi Public School, Noida. A student from Kerala, Bright E S, says, “When one takes 10 ml of acid in a 12 ml capacity tube, chances of swallowing it are high.”

Well, that is how the experiment used to be. Man Singh, a reader of chemistry in Delhi University’s Deshbandhu College, has come up with an instrument called the econoburette that doesn’t require sucking in solutions.

“Titration has undergone a sea-change with the instrument. A student will now pour in chemicals in small calibrated tubes using a funnel. It was high time we thought of user-friendly alternatives,” says Singh. The econoburette consists of four tubes which open in a common glass bulb attached below. The chemicals — acid, base and the indicator — can be released by the stopcock attached to each of the tubes. Singh claims the econoburette gives better measurement than even a pipette and burette as its diameter is smaller.

“Large amounts of chemicals are also saved by using the econoburette. Normally, 20 ml acid and 50 ml base are used in one reading. There are five readings taken. In an econoburette, students can do with only 5 ml of acid and 10 ml of base. There is also no chance of volatile gases escaping,” he said.

Singh has applied for a patent for the product. He has also developed other instruments like a vision meter, which helps the blind study properties of liquid, and a survismeter to measure surface tension.

An engineering college in Haryana has started using the econoburette in its labs. “The chemical fumes that the students inhale are carcinogenic, so the econoburette is a welcome instrument. Besides, it is inexpensive. The apparatus for titration costs more than Rs 3,000 while the econoburette costs around Rs 600. It also saves cost of distilled water, which is used to clean the apparatus,” says Suman Yadav, faculty at Advanced Institute of Technology and Management, Palval, Haryana.

Scientists, however, say that a lot of demonstrations are needed to check whether the econoburette gives the same results as a normal burette and pipette.

“It will be good if such an instrument is introduced in laboratories because it will not only reduce the volume of solutions used in the process of titration but also minimise contact of body with them. But whether it gives accurate results or not will depend a lot on how instrumentation is done, whether by valves or using air pressure,” says Basab Chaudhuri of the Department of Chemical Engineering, Calcutta University.

It is important to be precise because titration forms the basis of all chemical reactions and we need to know the concentration of chemicals in each reaction, says Rino Lali Jose, a lecturer of chemistry in Alphonsa College, Kottayam, Kerala.

“It is also used while making medicines where you need chemicals in the correct combination. A little extra or less is potentially dangerous for the patient using the medicines,” Jose adds.

(Down To Earth Feature Service)