The burette finds the unknown
A titration measures a concentration you cannot see by reacting it away with one you know. A measured aliquot of the unknown acid (volume ) waits in the flask; a standard base (concentration ) drips from the burette until the indicator turns — the equivalence point, where the moles have exactly annihilated each other. At that instant — read aloud: C-a V-a equals n C-b V-b, where is the mole ratio, moles of acid per mole of base.
For HCl against NaOH the dance is one-to-one: . Sulfuric acid brings TWO protons per molecule, so each acid particle spends two of the base: . And since and meet as a ratio, millilitres cancel millilitres — the one formula in this chapter where nobody converts anything.
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