Difference Between Titration and Neutralization

The key difference between titration and neutralization is that titration is an analytical technique, whereas neutralization is a chemical reaction.

Titration and neutralization are very important terms in chemistry. Titration is a technique that requires a specific apparatus, and it proceeds based on a neutralization reaction. Neutralization reactions are chemical reactions where the acidity is balanced by the addition of a base or vice versa to get a neutral solution.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Titration 
3. What is Neutralization
4. Side by Side Comparison – Titration vs Neutralization in Tabular Form
5. Summary

What is Titration?

Titration is an analytical technique that is useful in measuring the concentration of a certain chemical solution. We can do this using a solution which has a known concentration. A titration process requires a specific apparatus.

In a titration apparatus, there is a burette that usually contains a standard solution with a known concentration. If the solution in the burette is not a standard solution, it should be standardized using a primary standard. The titration flask is filled with a sample constating of a chemical component with an 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.

During the titration process, the standardized solution is added to the flask slowly until a colour change occurs. The colour change of the analyte solution indicates the endpoint of the titration. Although it is not the exact point at which the titration ends, we can assume that it is the equivalence point since there is only a slight difference (equivalence point is the point where the reaction actually stops).

The burette reading is useful to determine the amount of standard solution that reacted with the sample. Then by using chemical reactions and stoichiometric relationships, we can calculate the concentration of the unknown.

What is Neutralization?

The term neutralization refers to a chemical reaction between an acid and a base, which produces a neutral solution. The pH of a neutral solution is pH=7. The neutralization reaction involves the combination of H⁺ ions and OH^– ions to form water molecules.

If the final pH of an acid and base reaction mixture is 7, that means equal amounts of H⁺ and OH^– ions have reacted in this reaction (in order to form a water molecule one H⁺ ion reacts with one OH^– ion). The reacted acids and bases can be either strong or weak. Depending on the nature of the acid and the base, there are several types of neutralization reactions as follows:

1. Strong acid-strong base reaction
2. Strong acid-weak base reaction
3. Weak acid-weak base reaction
4. Weak acid-strong base reaction

Among these four types, only the reaction between strong acids and strong bases gives a neutralized solution having exactly pH=7. Other reactions give neutralized solutions with varying pH values due to the variation of the pH of the acid/base.

What is the Difference Between Titration and Neutralization?

Titration and neutralization are very important terms in chemistry. Titration is a technique that requires a specific apparatus, and it proceeds based on a neutralization reaction. The key difference between titration and neutralization is that titration is an analytical technique, whereas neutralization is a chemical reaction.

Below infographic compares the difference between titration and neutralization in tabular form.

Summary – Titration vs Neutralization

Titration and neutralization are very important terms in chemistry. Titration is a technique that requires a specific apparatus, and it proceeds based on a neutralization reaction. The key difference between titration and neutralization is that titration is an analytical technique, whereas neutralization is a chemical reaction.

Reference:

1. “Titration.” Chemistry LibreTexts, Libretexts, 23 June 2019, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Redox Titration Using Indicator” (CC0) via Free SVG

2. “Neutralization reaction between sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid” By Bluescan sv.wiki – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia