A titration is an analytic technique used to determine the amount of an unknown chemical in a sample.  The result can be reported as the amount in grams (milligrams) or as a Molarity, or as a %.  For a titration to work the unknown chemical must react with an available known chemical.  A balanced chemical equation should be written for the reaction between the known and unknown.  The known chemical is called the known because its concentration (Molarity) is known.  During a titration the unknown chemical is reacted with a known chemical by slowly dripping the known into the unknown via a buret.  The buret is like a long pipet so it can measure the amount of (milliliters/Liters) known chemical that must be added to react with all the unknown chemical.  Finally, there must be a way to detect the endpoint.  This is the point at which enough known has been added to react with all the unknown and signals the technician to stop the titration.  The endpoint is usually signaled by a color change.

The volume and Molarity of known used in the titration are then used to calculate the moles of the known.  This is then converted to moles of unknown by using the coefficients in the balanced chemical equation.  The moles of unknown can be converted to grams .  Alternatively, the moles of unknown can be divided by the Liters of unknown sample that was titrated to calculate Molarity.  The grams of unknown can also be divided by the ml of sample to calculate the %(w/v) of the unknown.

buret