SystematicKoala986

So here’s the thing. I was running a standard titration of a weak base with a strong acid to practice pH calculation, but when I added the phenol red indicator, it stayed a pale yellow instead of turning the expected light pink at the endpoint. I double‑checked the glassware, rinsed the burette, even switched the pipette, nothing changed. The only thing I changed was using a new batch of the indicator that I just received, and that seems to be the culprit. It feels like a simple dilution problem, yet the concentration was spot on, the acid was 1 M, and the base 0.5 M. Every time I pipet, the color never shifts—just a ghost of the original hue. Anyone else have a story about a batch of indicator going rogue? Also, is there a cheap test to confirm the indicator’s integrity before adding it to the mix, or am I doomed to repeat the titration until the dye actually responds? A quick anecdote: my friend tried to add a pinch of food coloring instead, and we all laughed, but that didn't solve anything either. Looking forward to any troubleshooting tips or theories; I’m tired of the colorless drama. Thanks.

I was mixing a 1 M sodium chromate solution, but I mixed it in a 250 mL flask and added the wrong amount of water. The first evening the color was a bright orange, but when I checked it again the next day it was almost colorless, with no crystal growth.

I set up the solution in a clean beaker, capped it, and left it overnight in a dim room. My only variables were the volume and the mixing speed; I didn’t add any extra reagents.

What’s happening to my chromate here? Am I mis‑calculating solubility, or is there some precipitation/oxidation happening that I’ve overlooked? I’d appreciate a quick explanation or pointers to the key literature to figure out where I went off track.