Question

How would you go about determining the concentration of an acetic acid solution in vinegar?

Answer 1

Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace chemicals where aqueous solution can be defined as that solution in which solvent is water. Solvent is
the substance in which solute is dissolved or we can say which is present in higher amounts.

Complete answer:
Vinegar is generally acidic in nature and it is widely used in flavoring substances in various types of food items. It is an aqueous solution of acetic acid with trace chemicals where acetic acid is produced by the fermentation of ethanol or sugars by acetic acid bacteria which are a group of Gram-negative bacteria which oxidize sugar and ethanol and produce acetic acid during fermentation.
Concentration of an acetic acid solution in vinegar can be determined by the titration with a standardized base this can be explain as follow:
Let us suppose you take 1 M vinegar with respect to acetic acid and titrate 1 ml aliquots with 0.1 M standardized base of about 0.05-0.1 M concentration now add a suitable indicator like phenolphthalein in it and then reach at a stoichiometric end point with 10-20 ml of titrant.
Hence in this way by knowing the amount of titrant used we can find out the concentration of an acetic acid solution in vinegar.

Note:
Vinegar has many applications like white vinegar is often used as a household cleansing agent, effective cleaning agent for stainless steel and glass. Some other uses of vinegar are herbicides which are commonly known as weed killers.