Salts

What is a salt ?

• A salt is formed in a reaction between an acid & a base.

Acid + base → salt + water
HCl(aq) + NaOH(aq) → NaCl(aq) + H2O(l)

• A salt is an ionic compound consisting a cation (metal

ion or ammonium ion) from a base and an anion from an
acid.

• A salt is a compound formed when the hydrogen ion in

an acid is replaced by a metal ion or ammonium ion.
 Acid Salt
Hydrochloric acid, HCl Chloride Sodium chloride, NaCl
salts Ammonium chloride, NH4Cl
Nitric acid, HNO3 Nitrate Potassium nitrate, KNO3
salts Aluminium nitrate, Al(NO3)2
Sulphuric acid, H2SO4 Sulphate Ammonium sulphate, (NH4)2SO4
salts Magnesium sulphate, MgSO4
Carbonic acid, H2CO3 Carbonate Iron(II) carbonate, FeCO3
salts Calcium carbonate, CaCO3
Phosphorus acid, H3PO4 Phosphate Iron(III) phosphate, FePO4
salts Ammonium phosphate, (NH4)3PO4
Ethanoic acid, Ethanoate Lead(II) ethanoate, (CH3COO)2Pb
CH3COOH salts Copper(I) ethanoate, CH3COOCu
 Solubility of Salts in water
Type of salt Solubility in water
Ammonium salts All are soluble
Sodium / potassium All are soluble
salts
Ethanoate salts All are soluble
Nitrate salts All are soluble
Chloride salts All are soluble except AgCl, HgCl2 & PbCl2
Sulphate salts All are soluble except BaSO4, CaSO4 &
PbSO4
Carbonate salts All are insoluble except Na2CO3, K2CO3 &
(NH4)2CO3
Lead(II) salts All are insoluble except Pb(NO3)2 &
(CH3COO)2Pb
 Preparation of salts

Soluble salts
• Acid + alkali (potassium, sodium & ammonium salts)
• Acid + base
• Acid + metal
• Acid + metal carbonate

Insoluble salts
• Double decomposition reaction
 Sodium, potassium & ammonium salts :
• Method : titration
• Reaction : neutralisation

4 stages involved :
• A titration is carried out to determine the exact volume of an acid
needed to neutralise a fixed volume of an alkali with the help of an
indicator.
NH4OH(aq) + HCl(aq) → NH4Cl(aq) + H2O

• This volume of an acid is then added straight to the same volume of

alkali without any indicator to obtain a pure salt solution.

• Crystallisation is carried out to obtain crystals of the salt.

• Recrystallisation is done to obtain pure crystals of the salt.

1 2

3 4
 Preparing insoluble salts :
• Method : precipitation
• Reaction : double decomposition

• 2 aqueous solutions of 2 different soluble salts are mixed

to form the insoluble salt.

Example : lead(II) sulphate

Pb(NO3)2(aq) + K2SO4(aq) → PbSO4(s) + 2KNO3(aq)

• The insoluble salt is obtained by filtration.

 How to select suitable methods for preparation of salts ?
Salt
Reaction : Reaction :
Double decomposition Acid + metal
Acid + metal oxide
Procedure : Acid + metal hydroxide
Choose 2 aqueous No Is the salt Acid + metal carbonate
solutions containing cation soluble ?
& anion of the insoluble Procedure :
salt. Add excess solid to hot dilute
acid.
Mix the 2 solutions. Yes Filter off the unreacted solid.
Filter, wash & dry the
precipitate. Evaporate to saturate the salt
Is it a Na ,
+
No solution.
K+ or NH4+ Cool to crystallisation to occur.
salt ?
Filter, wash & dry the crystals

Yes
Reaction :
Neutralisation reaction
(acid + alkali)
Procedure :
Use titration
method to neutralise a given volume of acid to obtain the
salt solution. Evaporate
to saturate the salt solution.
Cool to crystallisation to occur.
 Constructing ionic equation using the continuous variation method :

• Carry out a reaction between a fixed volume of reactant A with varying

volumes of a second reactant B.

• Determine the volume of reactant B required to react completely with

the fixed volume of reactant A.

• Calculate the number of moles of reactants A & B respectively.

• Determine the simplest mole ratio of reactant A to reactant B to form

one mole of the insoluble salt.

• Use the ratio to construct the ionic equation.

Example 1
10 cm3 of 0.25 mol dm−3 lead(II) nitrate solution reacts completely with
5 cm3 of 0.10 mol dm−3 potassium iodide soluton. A yellow precipitate
of lead(II) iodide is formed. construct the ionic equation for the
formation of lead(II) iodide.
Solution :
Number of moles of Pb2+ ion Number of moles of I− ion
MV MV
 
1000 1000
0.25  10 1.0  5
 
1000 1000
 0.0025 mol  0.005 mol
Simplest mole ratio of Pb2+ ion to I− ion
 0.0025 : 0.005
0.0025 0.005 Ionic equation :
 :
0.0025 0.0025 Pb2+(aq) + 2I−(aq) → PbI2(s)
 1: 2
Question 1
In the preparation of copper(II) sulphate, a student added 4.0 g of
copper(II) oxide to 1.25 mol dm−3 sulphuric acid. Calculate the volume
of the acid needed to react completely with the copper(II) oxide.
[Relative atomic mass : O, 16 ; Cu, 64]
Question 2
Excess sodium chloride is added to 50.0 cm3 of silver nitrate solution.
2.87 g of silver chloride is precipitated. Calculate the concentration of
the silver nitrate solution in mol dm−3.
[Relative atomic mass : Cl, 35.5 ; Ag, 108 ]
Question 3
Excess aluminium powder is added to 300.0 cm3 of 2.0 mol dm−3
hydrochloric acid. The mixture is then warmed to speed up the
reaction. Calculate the mass of salt formed.
[Relative atomic mass : Al, 27 ;Cl, 35.5]
Question 4
150.0 cm3 of 1.0 mol dm−3 ammonia solution is completely neutralised
with phosphoric acid using a titration method. Calculate the mass of
ammonium phosphate formed.
[Relative atomic mass : H, 1 ; N, 14 ; O, 16 ; P,31]
Question 5
6.20 g of copper(II) carbonate is added to 100 cm3 of 1.46 g dm−3
hydrochloric acid. Calculate the mass of copper(II) chloride produced.
[ Relative atomic mass : H, 1 ; C, 12 ; O, 16 ; Cl, 35.5 ; Cu, 64 ]
Colour → solubility in water
→ chemical reactions
→ confirmatory tests
Yellow precipitate is
formed.

Some yellow
precipitate is
dissolved.

Golden yellow
crystals are formed.
Light blue
precipitate is
formed.

Dark blue
precipitate is
formed.

Dark blue
precipitate is
formed.

Greenish brown
solution is
formed.