permanent and temporary change in the indicator. Preparation techniques Typical titrations require titrant and analyte to be in a liquid (solution) form. Though solids are usually dissolved into an aqueous solution, other solvents such as glacial acetic acid or ethanol are used for special purposes (as in petrochemistry, which specializes in petroleum.) Concentrated analytes are often diluted to improve accuracy. Many non-acid–base titrations require a constant pH during the reaction. Therefore, a buffer solution may be added to the titration chamber to maintain the pH. In instances where two reactants in a sample may react with the titrant and only one is the desired analyte, a separate masking solution may be added to the reaction chamber which eliminates the effect of the unwanted ion. Some reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions may require heating the sample solution and titrating while the solution is still hot to increase the reaction rate. For instance, the oxidation of some oxalate solutions requires heating to to maintain a reasonable rate of reaction. Titration curves A titration curve is a curve in graph the x-coordinate of which represents the volume of titrant added since the beginning of the titration, and the y-coordinate of which represents the concentration of the analyte at the corresponding stage of the titration (in an acid–base titration, the y-coordinate usually represents the pH of the solution). In an acid–base titration, the titration curve represents the strength of the corresponding acid and base. For a strong acid and a strong base, the curve will be relatively smooth and very steep near the equivalence point. Because of this, a small change in titrant volume near the equivalence point results in a large pH change and many indicators would be appropriate (for instance litmus, phenolphthalein or bromothymol blue). If one reagent is a weak acid or base and the other is a strong acid or base, the titration curve is irregular and the pH shifts less with small additions of titrant near the equivalence point. For example, the titration curve for the titration between oxalic acid (a weak acid) and sodium hydroxide (a strong base) is pictured. The equivalence point occurs between pH 8-10, indicating the solution is basic at the equivalence point and an indicator such as phenolphthalein would be appropriate. Titration curves corresponding to weak bases and strong acids are similarly behaved, with the solution being acidic at the equivalence point and indicators such as