Question

What is special about the equivalence point in a titration?

Answer 1

The purpose of a strong acid-strong base titration is to determine the concentration of the acidic solution by titrating it with a basic solution of known concentration, or vice-versa, until neutralization occurs. As both the acid and base are strong (high values of Ka and Kb), they will both fully dissociate, which means all the molecules of acid or base will completely separate into ions. At the equivalence point, equal amounts of H+ and OH- ions will combine to form H2O, resulting in a pH of 7.0 (neutral). The pH at the equivalence point for this titration will always be 7.0, note that this is true only for titrations of strong acid with strong base. In addition, the anion (negative ion) created from the dissociation of the acid combines with the cation (positive ion) created from the dissociation of the base to create a salt. Therefore, the reaction between a strong acid and strong base will result in water and a salt.