Pull ups and chin ups are two exercises that focus on different sets of muscles. The motion of the two exercises is basically the same, but the position of the hands is what makes them different. Both exercises employ the use of an overhead bar, which you grab onto and try to pull your body up toward.
Main Difference
Pull ups are done with the palms of your hands facing forward as you do grip the overhead bar. Chin ups are done with the hand position reversed so that the palms of your hands face you as you grip the bar.
Muscles Worked
The grip on the bar changes the focus of the exercise. Pull ups focus the resistance more on the muscles in the back, including the trapezius and the latissimus dorsi. Chin ups shift the focus of the resistance to your biceps. Both exercises work each of these muscle groups, but the reversal of the grip changes which muscles get worked the most.
Difficulty
Chin ups are easier to do because the grip allows you to utilize the muscles in the arm to a greater extent. The biceps are some of the strongest muscles in the body, so when they are utilized in an exercise, that exercise becomes easier than one in which the biceps are not utilized. For this reason, pull ups are more difficult because the hand position negates the utilization of the biceps and isolates the back muscles more.
Technique
The technique for both exercises is essentially the same, except for the grip. Grasp the bar in the curl of your fingers, not in your palms. Lift your feet off the ground so that your hands support your entire body weight. Keep your back straight and your head up as you pull down on the bar to lift yourself up toward the bar. Lift yourself until your chin is all the way over the bar. Then lower yourself down until your arms are fully extended to your original starting position. The entire movement should be controlled and steady so that you avoid swinging from the bar.
Effects
Doing chin up and pull ups on a regular basis will tone and strengthen the muscles in the arms and back. Chin ups and pull ups are more effective exercises than doing lateral pull-downs on a pulley machine because the stabilization needed to complete the free-swinging exercises creates greater stress on the muscles involved.
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