biological chemistry

Titration Curve of a Weak Acid and its pKa (Biochemistry Notes)

Acetic Acid titration Curve

Titration Curve of a Weak Acid and its pKa
(Titration, Titration Curve, Titration Curve of Acetic Acid and its Significance)

What is Titration?

Titration is a method to determine the concentration of a dissolved substance (analyte or titrand) in a known volume by reacting it with another substance of known concentration and volume (titrant). The volume of the reactants plays a crucial role in the titration and thus the titration is better called as ‘volumetric analysis’.

There are different types of titrations in which the Acid-Base Titration is the most common one. The acid-base titration is used to determine the amount (concentration) of an acid in a given solution. In an acid-base titration, a known volume of acid (of unknown concentration) is titrated against a solution of strong base (usually NaOH) of known concentration in the presence of an indicator. After the titration, the concentration of the acid in the sample is calculated using the concept N1V1 = N2V2.


N1 – Normality of the unknown acid

N2 – Normality of the known base

V1 – Volume of unknown acid

V2 – Volume of the known base

What is Titration Curve?

The titration curve is a graphical representation of a titration in which the volume of titrant is plotted on X-axis (as the independent variable) and the pH of the solution is plotted on the Y-axis (as the dependent variable).

In simple terms, the titration curve is the plot of pH of the analyte (titrand) versus the volume of the titrant added as the titration progresses.

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