Yes, sodium chloride can indeed be prepared using the titration method, particularly in a laboratory setting when aiming to obtain a pure sample of the salt.
According to the reference, if we need to prepare sodium chloride, we need to use the titration method. This approach is suitable because sodium chloride (NaCl) is a soluble salt and a Group I salt.
Why Titration is Used for Sodium Chloride Preparation
Titration is a quantitative chemical analysis technique used to determine the concentration of an unknown solution (the analyte) by reacting it with a solution of known concentration (the titrant). However, it can also be used as a precise preparation method.
For preparing a salt like sodium chloride via acid-base reaction, titration allows for the exact stoichiometric amounts of acid and base to react, minimizing the presence of unreacted starting materials. Since NaCl is soluble, simple mixing of the reactants followed by evaporation would leave behind any excess acid or base along with the salt. Titration helps ensure neutrality.
The Preparation Process
To prepare sodium chloride using this method, you perform a neutralization reaction between a strong acid and a strong base:
- Reactants: You need hydrochloric acid (HCl), a strong acid, and sodium hydroxide (NaOH), a strong base.
- Reaction: These two compounds react to form sodium chloride and water:
NaOH(aq) + HCl(aq) → NaCl(aq) + H₂O(l) - Titration: By carefully titrating the acid with the base (or vice versa) using an appropriate indicator (like phenolphthalein or methyl orange) to detect the neutralization point, you can ensure that essentially all the acid and base have reacted, leaving primarily sodium chloride dissolved in water.
- Isolation: After the reaction is complete and the solution is neutral, the water can be evaporated through heating. This process leaves behind solid, crystalline sodium chloride.
This method is effective for preparing soluble salts like NaCl because the product salt remains dissolved in the water during the reaction, allowing the neutralization point to be accurately determined by titration. The water is then easily removed to isolate the pure solid salt.
