DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Introduction/Background:

 

Titration, also known as volumetric analysis, is a quantitative laboratory method used to determine the concentration of a reactant. During titration, a titrant (a reagent of known concentration) is used to react with the analyte (a measured volume of the reactant). Within this lab, a titration will be performed between an acid and a base, using an acid-base reaction: H3O+ (aq) + OH- (aq) ----> 2H2O (l). Such a reaction is also known as a neutralization, for it involves the neutralization of one reactant by another. When a basic solution is added to an acidic solution of unknown concentration, hydroxide atoms from the basic solution will react with the hydronium ions from the acidic solution, and thus form water. As the hydronium ions react with the added hydroxide ions, the pH will change, because pH measures the molarity of hydronium ions. The solution will reach its equivalence point, when the number of moles of hydroxide ions added is equal to the number of moles of hydronium ions. This change will easily be seen on a graph, for pH tends to jump sharply when the equivalence point has been reached.

 

Purpose:

 

To determine the molar concentration of a strong acid solution by titrating measured volumes with a strong base of known concentration.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.