Understanding Titratable Substances and Their Importance in Acid-Base Titration

Titratable refers to a substance that can be used as a standard for acid-base titration. In other words, it is a substance that can react with an acid or a base to form a stable compound, and the amount of the substance required to neutralize a known volume of acid or base can be used to determine the concentration of the acid or base.

Common examples of titratable substances include:

1. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) - also known as caustic soda, this is a strong base that can react with acids to form salts and water.
2. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) - this is a strong acid that can react with bases to form salts and water.
3. Potassium hydrogen phthalate (KHP) - this is a weak acid that can react with strong bases to form salts and water.
4. Sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) - this is a weak base that can react with strong acids to form salts and water.

The process of acid-base titration involves adding a known volume of a titratable substance to a solution of unknown pH, and then measuring the amount of the substance required to reach a stable pH. By knowing the concentration of the acid or base in the solution, the pH can be calculated using the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation.

Titratable substances are essential in many applications, such as in the food industry to determine the acidity of food products, in the pharmaceutical industry to determine the purity of drugs, and in environmental monitoring to determine the pH of water and air samples.