Chap 16: Salts

All salts are ionic compounds. A salt is formed when a metallic ion or an ammonium ion replaces one or more hydrogen ions of an acid. We will study about this substance in detail in this chapter.

Solubility:
All nitrates, and all ammonium, sodium and potassium salts are soluble in water. Most chlorides and sulphates are also soluble, while the majority of carbonates are insoluble. Learning the solubility of salts is important before learning how the salts are formed. The solubilities in detail are: Nitrates: All soluble Chlorides: All soluble, E !E"T sil#er chloride Ag!l, lead $%%& chloride "b!L ', and mercury $%%& chloride (g!l'. Sulphates: All soluble, E !E"T calcium sulphate !a)*+, barium sulphate ,a)*+ and lead $%%& sulphate "b)*+. Carbonates: All insoluble, e-cept group % carbonates and ammonium carbonate.

Preparation:
We will learn three methods to prepare salts. ,efore deciding which method to use, we must .now the answer to these two /uestions. 0. %s the salt to be prepared soluble in water1 '. Are the starting materials soluble in water1 Method 1: This method is used if the salt to be prepared is soluble in water, while the starting materials are insoluble. 2or e-ample, let3s see how to prepare 4inc sulphate. We learnt that it is a soluble salt. Let3s thin. of some starting materials for it now. 2or the 5sulphate3 part, we could use )ulphuric acid ( ')*+. 2or the 54inc3 part, we could use the metal 4inc itself. 6n$s& 7 (')*+ 6n)*+ 7 ('

%n this method, we react the acid with an e-cess of the substance. 6inc is an insoluble metal. All the acid will be used up as it reacts with the 4inc, while the e-cess 4inc can be filtered out. What we do now is that we ta.e the )ulphuric acid in a bea.er and add 4inc into the acid while stirring. We .eep adding the metal until no more effer#escence is obser#ed. 8ow we ha#e in the bea.er 4inc sulphate solution and unreacted 4inc. We filter the mi-ture to get rid of the e-cess metal, and collect the filtrate. This filtrate is only the 4inc sulphate solution. 8ow we heat this filtrate to concentrate the solution, and then lea#e it to cool so that it can crystalli4e. These crystals are 4inc sulphate crystals. Wash these crystals with distilled water to remo#e impurities, and dry between sheets of filter paper. These are now pure 4inc sulphate crystals.

Method 2: This method, .nown as titration, is suitable for preparing salts that are soluble, and their starting materials are also soluble.

2or e-ample, let3s see how to ma.e sodium chloride. %t is a soluble salt. We can ma.e it with the al.ali sodium hydro-ide, and the acid hydrochloric acid. 8a*( $a/& 7 (!l $a/& 8a!l $a/& 7 ('*

2irst, we add the sodium hydro-ide in a bea.er, while the hydrochloric acid is added to the burette, which is clamped to a stand and is placed #ertically abo#e the bea.er. We add some indicator 5phenolphthalein3 to the bea.er. "henolphthalein is colorless in acid and neutral solutions while pin. in al.ali, so it turns pin. in the bea.er. We open the burette tap to slowly let the acid flow into the burette and watch closely for a color change in the bea.er. As soon as it turns colorless, we stop the burette tap and record the reading. %n the bea.er, we ha#e now sodium chloride salt, as well as the impurity phenolphthalein. As we want only the pure salt, we repeat this whole e-periment again, this time without the indicator. We add the same amount of al.ali into the bea.er, and put in the same #olume of the acid that we noted in the first e-periment. 8ow that we ha#e the salt, we repeat the same processes that were used in the first method. We concentrate the salt by heating it, and then let it cool and dry so that it can crystalli4e. We filter and collect the crystals, wash them with distilled water, and then dry between sheets of filter paper. We now ha#e pure crystals of sodium chloride. Method 3: This method is .nown as 5precipitation3. This method is used to prepare insoluble salts. All insoluble salts can be prepared using this method. 2or e-ample, let3s learn how to ma.e lead $%%& sulphate, "b)* +. We will first mi- two solutions: one that contains the positi#e ions, and the other that contains the negati#e ions of the salt to be prepared. We can use lead nitrate for the lead part, and )ulphuric acid for the sulphate part. This method, you will learn, is the simplest method. We add the lead $%%& nitrate solution to a bea.er, and add )ulphuric acid $in e-cess& and stir until no more precipitate forms. Then, filter to collect the precipitate, which is actually our salt lead $%%& sulphate. To remo#e impurities, wash with distilled water, and then dry between filter papers.

Qualitative Analysis:
The process of identification of cations and anions is called /ualitati#e analysis or salt analysis. We identify which cations $positi#e ions& are present in a salt by using a/ueous sodium hydro-ide, and a/ueous ammonia. 2or cation identification, learn the following table.

Al97

!a'7 6n'7 !u'7 2e'7 2e97 8(+7

Sodium Hydroxide solution Na!H "a#$ *bser#ations on adding a. a few drops of 8a*( b. e-cess 8a*( a. a white precipitate is formed b. the precipitate dissol#es in e-cess to gi#e a colourless solution a. white ppt formed b. ppt insoluble in e-cess a. white ppt formed b. ppt dissol#es in e-cess to gi#e a colorless solution a. light blue ppt b. ppt insoluble
a. b. a. b. a. b.

A#ueous Ammonia NH3 "a#$ *bser#ations on adding a. a few drops of 8(9 b. e-cess 8(9 a. a white precipitate is formed b. precipitate insoluble in e-cess no ppt no ppt white ppt formed ppt dissol#es in e-cess to gi#e a colorless solution a. light blue ppt b. ppt dissol#es in e-cess to gi#e a deep blue solution a. green ppt b. ppt insoluble a. reddish:brown ppt b. ppt insoluble 8o reaction
a. b. a. b.

green ppt ppt insoluble reddish:brown ppt ppt insoluble no ppt is formed *n heating, ammonia gas is gi#en off. Ammonia turns moist red litmus paper blue.

To identify anions, learn these reactions: C!32% "&arbonate$: Test: add dilute hydrochloric acid. "ass the gas gi#en off into limewater. *bser#ation: effer#escence is obser#ed. ;as gi#en off forms a white ppt with lime water. !arbon dio-ide gas is gi#en off. Cl% "&hloride$: Test: add dilute nitric acid, then add sil#er nitrate solution. *bser#ation: a white ppt of sil#er chloride is formed. '% "iodide$: Test: add dilute nitric acid, then add sil#er nitrate solution *bser#ation: a yellow ppt of sil#er iodide is formed. N!3% "nitrate$: Test: add dilute sodium hydro-ide. Then add a piece of aluminium foil. Warm the mi-ture. Test the gas gi#en off with a piece of moist red litmus paper. *bser#ation: the moist red litmus paper turns blue. Ammonia gas is gi#en off. S!(2% "sulphate$: Test: add dilute nitric acid, then add barium nitrate solution. *bser#ation: a white ppt of barium sulphate is formed.