1.0 ml of ethyl acetate was added to 25 ml of N/2 HCl. 2 ml of the mixture were withdrawn from time to time during the progress of the hydrolysis of the ester and titrated against standard NaOH solution. The amount to NaOH required for titration at various intervals is given below :
`{:("Time (min)",,,:,,,0,,,20,,,75,,,119,,,183,,,oo),("NaOH used (ml)",,,:,,,20.24,,,21.73,,,25.20,,,27.60,,,30.22,,,43.95):}`
The value at `oo` time was obtained by completing the hydrolysis on boiling. Show that it is a reaction of the first order and find the average value of the velocity constant.

Explanation

To determine if the hydrolysis of ethyl acetate in the presence of HCl is a first-order reaction and to find the average value of the velocity constant (rate constant, K), we can follow these steps:

### Step 1: Understand the Reaction
The hydrolysis of ethyl acetate can be represented as:
\[ \text{Ethyl acetate} + \text{HCl} \rightarrow \text{Acetic acid} + \text{Ethanol} \]

### Step 2: Collect Data
We have the following data from the titration of the reaction mixture at various time intervals:
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