An Acid can be titrated with a base in order to completely dissociate the protons. But acetic acid is a weak acid and does not dissociate entirely in water. In a university laboratory, a strong base such as NaOH would have been used to carry out the titration of acetic acid to completely dissociate protons from the acid. However, a strong base like NaOH would not be safe to work with outside of a laboratory. A safer alternative is NaHCO3, a weak base that is available at approximately 100% purity in the form of baking soda. The chemical reaction between sodium bicarbonate and acetic acid is shown below: 𝐶𝐻 3 𝐶𝑂𝑂𝐻 (𝑎𝑞) + 𝑁𝑎𝐻𝐶𝑂 3 (𝑎𝑞) ⇌ 𝐻 2 𝐶𝑂 3 (𝑎𝑞) + 𝐶𝐻 3 𝐶𝑂𝑂𝑁𝑎 (𝑎𝑞) (1) Despite being a weak base, the reaction between bicarbonate and acetic acid produces carbonic acid, which decomposes into carbon dioxide and water in the following reactions: 𝐻 2 𝐶𝑂 3 (𝑎𝑞) ↔ 𝐻 2 𝑂 (𝑙) + 𝐶𝑂 2 (𝑎𝑞) (2)