June 16th, 2009

titration [(teye-tray-shuhn)]

– n.  The process, operation, or method of determining the concentration of a substance in solution by adding to it a standard reagent of known concentration in carefully measured amounts until a reaction of definite and known proportion is completed, as shown by a color change or by electrical measurement, and then calculating the unknown concentration

In chemstry, the determination of what materials are present in a sample by adding precise amounts of known chemicals and observing the chemical reaction.

 

When I was in high school, I was first introduced to titrations in year 10. I must admit that chemistry and physics were two units I was quite good at, but never in my wildest dreams would I have imaged that I would ever have to use titrations in everyday life..! Fast forward 10 years later and here I am sitting at a table with  pipette in one hand, and test tube in the other. Why you ask?

Well upon our arrival back from Australia, I finally succumbed to the urge to start up a new  salt water marine tank. I’ve always had a fascination with the deep sea world with all its unique corals and oddly shaped, colourful fish. I used to have quite a large marine tank in Australia and invested many and hour (and $$) into building up that tank into a beautiful little ecosystem filled with a variety of corals and exotic marine fish. The pricing of equipment, fish and corals are so much lower here in Canada in comparison to Australia. There is also much more variety when it comes to species that are available. One factor is that Canada is so close to Hawaii and also has less stringent customs restrictions when it comes to what can be brought into the country. Since space is a premium in our apartment, I decided to build a nano tank that is only 10 gallons. Saltwater tanks are a much more delicate ecosystem in comparison to freshwater tanks and there are many chemical levels that need to be in sync in order for your corals and fish to thrive and be happy. In a tank that size you would be able to put 30 freshwater guppy’s into it, but for a saltwater setup you could only get away with 2-3 small fish and some corals.

 

So back to the titrations… Since there are so many things that need to be tested such as pH, Alkalinity, Salinity, Nitrates and Nitrites I bought a test kit. As I recorded the levels and compared them with what was considered “safe”, it dawned on me that I was actually doing titrations. Now, granted I wasn’t using precision laboratory equipment, nor was I wasn’t in sterile environment. None-the-less, the basic process was titrating!

 

 So there you have it! When you are a 16 year old kid sitting in class wondering “why the heck am I learning this? When would I ever use this..?” you may just be surprised later on in life.

I’m sure that my old science teacher Dr. Dring would be proud of me… Hopefully this time round there won’t be any explosions…