Unit 2: Advanced Basics

Section 2: Acid/Base Reactions

* Acid/Base Reactions - Basics
* Titration

Acid/Base Reactions - Basics

Acid/Base reactions are reactions that involve the neutralization of an acid
through the use of a base. But what does that all mean? This means that when
at solution of HCl and NaOH are reacted together, the acidity of the HCl
will be reduced by NaOH (which is a strong base). In this reaction, the Na+
and the Cl- are called spectator ions because they play no role in the
overall outcome of the reaction. The only thing that reacts is the H+ (from
the HCl) and the OH- (from the NaOH). So the reaction that actually takes
place is:

H+ + OH- ==> H2O

If in the end, the OH- was the limiting reagent and there are H+'s still
left in the solution then the solution is acidic, but if the H+ was the
limiting reagent and OH-'s were left in the solution then the solution is
basic.

Titration

Titration is the process of mixing acids and bases to analyse one of the
solutions. For example, if you were given an unknown acidic solution and a 1
molar NaOH solution, titration could be used to determine what the
concentration of the other solution was.

The goal of titration is to determine the equivalence point. The equivalence
point is the point in which all the H+ and the OH- ions have been used to
produce water. Titration also usually involves an indicator. An indicator is
a liquid that turns a specific color at a specific pH. (Different indicators
change colors at different pH's) Indicators are chosen to allow a color
change at the equivalence point.