chemistry

Lead titanate

Lead titanate is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lead titanate rather than just read about it. In short: Lead(II) titanate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula PbTiO3. It is the lead salt of titanic acid.

Key takeaways

Lead titanate belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lead titanate to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lead titanate from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lead(II) titanate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula PbTiO3. It is the lead salt of titanic acid. Lead(II) titanate is a yellow powder that is insoluble in water. At high temperatures, lead titanate adopts a cubic perovskite structure. At 760 K, the material undergoes a second order phase transition to a tetragonal perovskite structure which exhibits ferroelectricity. Lead titanate is one of the end members of the lead zirconate titanate (Pb[ZrxT1−x]O3, 0 ≤ x ≤ 1, PZT) system, which is technologically one of the most important ferroelectric and piezoelectric ceramics; PbTiO3 has a high ratio of k33 to kp with a high kt. Lead titanate occurs in nature as mineral macedonite.

Toxicity Lead titanate is toxic, like other lead compounds. It irritates skin, mucous membranes and eyes. It may also cause harm to unborn babies and might have effects on fertility.

Solubility in water The solubility of hydrothermally-synthesized perovskite-phase PbTiO3 in water was experimentally determined at 25 and 80 °C to depend on pH and vary from 4.9 × 10−4 mol/kg at pH≈3, to 1.9 × 10−4 mol/kg at pH≈7.7, to "undetectable" (<3.2 × 10−7 mol/kg) in the range 10<pH<11. At still higher pH values, the solubility increased again. The solubility was apparently incongruent and was quantified as the analytical concentration of Pb.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lead titanate

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lead titanate claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lead titanate before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lead titanate ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lead titanate

In research: Lead titanate appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lead titanate in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lead titanate is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Ferroelectric materials, Lead(II) compounds, Perovskites, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lead titanate outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lead titanate in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lead titanate means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lead titanate out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lead titanate in simple terms?

Lead(II) titanate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula PbTiO3. It is the lead salt of titanic acid.

Why does Lead titanate matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lead titanate?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lead titanate.