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Certain chemicals have the special property of
appearing one colour when in a solution of one pH
and a different colour when in a solution of a
different pH. Such chemicals are known as acid-
base indicators, because, when a few drops of
indicator are added to a solution, the colour of the
solution serves as an indication of its pH.
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HIn(aq) H+(aq) + In-(aq)
so
Ka= { [H+][X-] / [HX] }
v
phe following graph shows the colour and In- to
HIn ratio of phenol red over a continuous range of
pH values:

phe indicator is at one of its colour extremes at

most pH's. phis is true of indicators in general. Most
indicators appear noticeably different in colour only
when the pH range within is within 1 pH unit of the
indicator's pKa.
å
Some indicators change colour more than once over
the pH range. For example, thymol blue changes
from red to yellow in the pH range of 1.2 to 2.8,
then from yellow to blue in the pH range of 8.0 to
9.6.

Because it has two protons that can dissociate,

thymol blue also has two pKa values: one at a pH of
½(1.2+2.8)=2.0 and the other at a pH of
½(8.0+9.6)=8.8.

*
Knowing which pH ranges cause specific indicators
to appear which colours allows us to use a set of
one or more indicators to V

V the pH of a
solution.
Indicators can be used to track the pH in a titration,
usually as a means of detecting the equivalence
point of the titration.
Consider the titration of an acid with a base in
which a few drops of indicator have been added to
the acid being titrated. Initially, the pH of the acid
will probably be low enough that the indicator is
almost entirely in its acidic (HIn) form. As base is
added the pH will increase, causing the indicator to
change to its basic (In-) form, causing a visible
colour change. phe point in the titration at which
the colour changes is known as the endpoint of the
titration.

phe endpoint of a titration is NOp always the same
thing as the equivalence point. phe equivalence
point is a single point defined as the point at which
the base (or acid) added exactly neutralizes the
acid (or base) being titrated. phe endpoint is
defined by the choice of indicator as the point at
which the colour changes.

For a strong acid-

strong base
titration, the
equivalence point
occurs at pH 7.

A
In the strong acid titration, both indicators begin to
change colour at the equivalence point (50 mL of
base) so both work equally well. In the weak acid
titration, thymol blue changes colour at the
equivalence point, but methyl red begins to change
colour after only 15mL of base are added, which is
far from the equivalence point, illustrating the
importance of choosing an appropriate indicator.