The purpose of this experiment is  to determine the molar concentration of a strong acid solution by titrating it with a strong base of known concentration.

Titrations are typically done to determine the concentration of a reactant. When a basic solution is added to an acidic solution of unknown concentration, hydroxide ions from the basic solution react with hydronium ions from the acidic solution.  This reaction forms water. Since pH is a measure of the molarity of hydronium ions, the pH changes as hydronium ions react with the added hydroxide ions. The point at which the number of moles of hydroxide ions added is equal to the number of moles of hydronium ions is called the equivalence point. The detection of the equivalence point usually is easy since the pH tends to jump very sharply at that point.

The net ionic equation shown below is an example of the reaction of a strong acid (HCl) with a strong base (NaOH):

H3O+(aq) + OH-(aq) ---> 2H2O (l)

This type of reaction is a neutralizing reaction.