Titration

• Titration is a method for determining the

concentration of a solution by reacting a known
volume of that solution with a solution of known
concentration.
• If you wish to find the concentration of an acid
solution, you would titrate the acid solution with
a solution of a base of known concentration.
• You could also titrate a base of unknown
concentration with an acid of known
concentration.
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In the titration of an acid by a base, the pH meter
measures the pH of the acid solution in the beaker as a
solution of a base with a known concentration is added
from the burette.

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• a pH meter is used to monitor the
change in pH as the titration progresses.

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 Titration Procedure
1) A measured volume of an acidic or basic solution of
unknown concentration is placed in a beaker. The
electrodes of a pH meter are immersed in this solution,
and the initial pH of the solution is read and recorded.
2) A burette is filled with the titrating solution of known
concentration. This is called the standard solution, or
titrant.
3) Measured volumes of the standard solution are added
slowly and mixed into the solution in the beaker. The pH is
read and recorded after each addition. This process
continues until the reaction reaches the equivalence
point, which is the point at which moles of H+ ion from the
acid equal moles of OH- ion from the base.

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In the titration of a strong acid by a strong base, a steep rise in
the pH of the acid solution indicates that all of the H+ ions from
the acid have been neutralized by the OH- ions of the base. The
point at which the curve flexes is the equivalence point of the
titration. Bromthymol blue is an indicator that
changes color at this
equivalence point.
Notice that
phenolphthalein and
methyl red don’t
match the exact
equivalence point,
but the slope is so
steep that it doesn’t
matter.
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 Strong-Strong Titration
• The previous slide shows how the pH of the solution
changes during the titration of 50.0 mL of 0.100 M HCl,
a strong acid with 0.100 M NaOH, a strong base.
• The inital pH of the 0.100 M HCl is 1.00.
– As NaOH is added, the acid is neutralized and the
solution’s pH increases gradually.
– When nearly all of the H+ ions from the acid have been
used up, the pH increases dramatically with the addition of
an exceedingly small volume of NaOH.
– This abrupt change in pH occurs at the equivalence point
of the titration.
– Beyond the equivalence point, the addition of more NaOH
again results in the gradual increase in pH.

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Titration of HPr (a weak acid) with NaOH (a strong base) at
pH8.80.
The equivalence point here is not at a pH of 7. Phenolphthalein
is an indicator that changes color at this equivalence point.
Notice that the starting pH is different and the region of change
is smaller.

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• This is not the case , some titrations have equivalence points
at pH values less than 7, and some have equivalence points at
pH values greater than 7.
• These differences occur because of reactions between the
newly formed salts and water – salt hydrolysis.
– Some salts are basic (weak acid, strong base) and some
salts are acidic (strong acid, weak base).

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 Acid-Base Indicators
• Chemists often use a chemical dye rather than a pH meter
to detect the equivalence point of an acid-base titration.
• Chemical dyes whose colors are affected by acidic and basic
solutions are called acid-base indicators.
• Many natural substances act as indicators.
– If you use lemon juice in your tea, you might have noticed that
the brown color of tea gets lighter when lemon juice is added.
– Tea contains compounds called polyphenols that have slightly
ionizable hydrogen atoms and therefore are weak acids.
– Adding acid in the form of lemon juice to a cup of tea lessens
the degree of ionization, and the color of the un-ionized
polyphenols becomes more apparent.
• Chemists have several choices in selecting indicators.
– Bromthymol blue is a good choice for the titration of a strong
acid with a strong base, and phenolphthalein changes color at
the equivalence point of a titration of a weak acid with a strong
base.
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 Indicators and Titration End Point
• The point at which the indicator used in a
titration changes color is called the end point
of the titration.
– It is important to choose an indicator for a
titration that will change color at the equivalence
point of the titration.
– Remember that the role of the indicator is to
indicate to you, by means of a color change, that
just enough of the titrating solution has been
added to neutralize the unknown solution.

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Titration with an Indicator

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 Titration Calculations: An Example
The balanced equation of a titration reaction is the key
calculating the unknown molarity. For example, sulfuric
acid is titrated with sodium hydroxide according to this
equation:
H2SO4 (aq) + 2 NaOH (aq)  Na2SO4 (aq) + 2 H2O (l)
1) Calculate the moles of NaOH in the standard from the
titration data: molarity of the base (MB) and the volume of
the base (VB). In other words, MB VB = (mol/L)(L) = mol NaOH
in standard
2) From the equation, you know that the mole ratio of NaOH
to H2SO4 is 2:1. Two moles of NaOH are required to
neutralize 1 mol of H2SO4. mol H2SO4 titrated = mol NaOH in
standard x (1 mol H2SO4 / 2 mol NaOH)
3) MA represents the molarity of the acid and VA represents the
volume of the acid in liters. MA = mol H2SO4 titrated/VA

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 MAVA = MBVB (mol acid/mol base)
This is the mole ratio

The definition of molarity (mol/L)

MAVA = MBVB (mol acid/mol base)
(mol acid/L acid)(L acid) = (mol base/L base)(L base) (mol acid/mol base)
mol acid = mol base (mol acid/mol base)
mol acid = mol acid

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