The key difference between standardization and titration is that standardization process uses primary standards, whereas the titration process does not essentially use primary standards.
Standardization and titration are important terms we use in analytical chemistry. Standardization is also a titration process, but not all titrations are standardization processes. Although they use the same technique to get a measurement, their applications are different from each other.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Standardization
3. What is Titration
4. Side by Side Comparison – Standardization vs Titration in Tabular Form
5. Summary
What is Standardization?
Standardization is an analytical technique we use to find an unknown concentration using a primary or a secondary standard solution. The most commonly used technique for standardization of a solution is titration. For a standardization process, a standard solution is required as a reference. Standard solutions come in two types as primary standard solutions and secondary standard solutions. For accurate standardizations, we use primary standard solutions. These solutions comprise of high purity.
Figure 01: Acid and Base Titration
When we make a solution using a solid chemical compound. The final concentration of that solution may vary depending on several factors such as purity of the compound, instrumental errors, human errors, etc. For example, if we want to make a 1.0 molL-1 solution of EDTA, we can weigh the appropriate amount required for the preparation and dissolve it in a suitable volume of water.
The required weight can be calculated using the data given on the bottle label. But this may not give the exact concentration we need. Therefore, after the preparation of the solution, we have to standardize using a primary standard solution to find the exact concentration of the prepared solution.
What is Titration?
Titration is an analytical technique we can use to determine the concentration of a certain chemical species in a solution. We can perform a titration using a solution which has a known concentration. Unlike in standardization, the solution having a known concentration is not essentially a primary or a secondary solution. It can be any solution having a known concentration. A titration is done using a specific apparatus. It has a burette, burette stand and titration flask.
The burette generally contains a standard solution with a known concentration or some other solution having a known concentration. If it is not a standard solution, we have to standardize the solution in the burette using a primary standard. The titration flask contains the sample that has the chemical component with unknown concentration. If the standardized solution (in burette) cannot act as a self-indicator, we should add a suitable indicator to the sample in the titration flask.
Figure 02: Colour Change in Titration Process
Thereafter, the standardized solution is added to the flask slowly until a colour change occurs. The colour change in the titration flask indicates the endpoint of the titration. Although it is not the exact point at which the titration ends, we can take it as the equivalence point since there is only a slight difference.
Furthermore, we can use the burette reading to find the amount of standard solution that reacted with the sample. Then by using chemical reactions and stoichiometric relationships, we can determine the concentration of the unknown.
What is the Difference Between Standardization and Titration?
Standardization and titration are important terms we use in analytical chemistry. Standardization is also a titration process, but not all titrations are standardization processes. The key difference between standardization and titration is that standardization process uses primary standards, whereas the titration process does not essentially use primary standards. In standardization, the solution in the burette is the primary or secondary standard solution, while titration contains a standardized solution.
The below infographic summarizes the difference between standardization and titration.
Summary – Standardization vs Titration
Standardization and titration are important terms we use in analytical chemistry. Standardization is also a titration process, but not all titrations are standardization processes. The key difference between standardization and titration is that standardization process uses primary standards, whereas the titration process does not essentially use primary standards.
Reference:
1. Helmenstine, Anne Marie. “What Is Titration?” ThoughtCo, Sep. 29, 2019, Available here.
2. Helmenstine, Anne Marie. “What Is a Primary Standard in Chemistry?” ThoughtCo, Oct. 5, 2019, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Acid and Base Titration” By Kengksn – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “ChemicalPrinciplesFig2-3” By Dickerson, Gray and Haight – (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia