Competencies

Activity 1
● List as many salts as you can that are
used in home, medicine or agriculture?

( from your list differentiate acidic , basic or

neutral)

● What is the natural source of salts? How

can you define salts?

● Make a list of coloured?

● most salts are found in nature while some ● CaCO3, limestone is found in western
are manufactured industrially. Showa, near Guder at a place called
Senkelle.

● large deposits of NaCl and sufficient

amounts KNO3, MgCO3 are found in the
Dalol Depression, Afar region.

● NaCl is also found in the Somali region

around Elkere. Sodium chloride for various
consumptions in Ethiopia is obtained by
evaporation of salt water from Afdera Lake
located in the Afar region.
 ● Copper sulphate, CuSO4 - (blue),
● Potassium dichromate, K2Cr2O7
(yellow)
● Potassium permanganate, KMnO4 (dark
violet).

● Most salts are white in colour, but that salts of

transition metals are coloured.
● Salts are ionic compounds generally
formed by the neutralization of an acid
with a base.

● when the ionizable hydrogen of acids are

partly or completely replaced by metal ions
or ammonium ion.
● A salt gets its name from the names of the
metal ion (derived from the base and the
acid radical derived from the acid.
Classification of Salts
 I. Normal Salts/ Neutral Salt
● A salt formed by the complete replacement of ionizable H+ ions of an acid by a positive metal ion or
NH4 + ions

● Neutral to litmus.

● Normal salts do not contain ionizable H+ or OH–.

II. Acidic salts
● formed by the partial replacement of replaceable H+ ions of an acid by a positive metal ion.

● When acidic salts are dissolved to make an aqueous solution, they release H+ ions which make the
solution acidic.

- turn blue litmus red.

● Acidic salts react with bases to form normal salts,
III.Basic Salts
● Salts in which not all of the hydroxide ions in a base have been replaced by the anions of the acid.
● Basic salts are formed by the incomplete neutralization of a polyhydroxy base by an acid.

● When basic salts are dissolved to make an aqueous solution, they release OH– ions and this makes
the solution basic.
● Basic salts react with acids to form normal salts.
 Content checking
1. Will the following salt produce an acidic, basic or neutral solution?
a. CH3COONa
b. NH4Cl
c. NaCl

2. What type of salt (acidic, basic or normal) will be formed if one mole of H3PO4

is allowed to react with

A) 1 mole of NaOH? B) 2 moles of NaOH? C) 3 moles of NaOH?

3. Write the balanced chemical equation for each of the reactions (A to C) in question 2
General Methods for the Preparation of Salts
Activity 2:

List any methods to. prepare sodium chloride in the laboratory?

General Methods for the Preparation of Salts
● Usually soluble salts are prepared by methods that involve crystallization, while insoluble salts are
prepared by methods that involve precipitation.

1. Preparation of Soluble Salts

A. The reaction of an acid and a metal (Direct Displacement method)

● hydrogen ion of acid is replaced by a reactive metals ( e.g : Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe
● Reactions of Group IA metals like sodium and potassium are very vigorous and it is not advisable to
use the metals of Group IA for the preparation of salts by this method.
B. The reaction of an acid and a base (Neutralization method)

● It is a neutralization reaction in which acid and base react to produce a salt and water
C. By the reaction of an acid and metallic oxide

● Mostly the insoluble metallic oxides react with dilute acids to form salt and water
D. The reaction of an acid and a carbonate or bicarbonate:

Dilute acids react with metallic carbonates to produce salts, water and carbon dioxide gas.
2. Preparation of Insoluble Salts by Double Decomposition (Precipitation)

● two different soluble salts react to form a soluble and an insoluble salt as products that can be
separated easily.
Exercise 3.11

1. Identify the base and the acid used for the formation of each of the following salts
Experiment : Preparation of salts
Some Important Salts and their Uses
 Properties of Salts
● Salts can be classified depending on the anion (negative ion) they possess, because the anion is
partly responsible for the solubility of the salt.

1. Solubility of salts

● Some salts are soluble in water; some are insoluble while some salts are only slightly soluble.
2. Tendency to absorb water from the atmosphere or release water to the atmosphere.
● Hygroscopic salts are those which
absorb water from the atmosphere but
remain solid.

● Deliquescent salts absorb water from the

atmosphere to form a solution.

The process of absorbing water from the atmosphere

by a solid to form a solution is called deliquescence.

● Efflorescent salts lose their water of

crystallization to the atmosphere.
● All deliquescent substances are hygroscopic, but all
The loss of water of crystallization by solid crystals to hygroscopic substances are not necessarily deliquescent.
the atmosphere is known as efflorescence.
3. Aqueous solutions of soluble salts are good conductors of electricity, because they release mobile
positive and negative ions in solution.

4. Thermal stability of salts:

● Thermal stability of a salt is the property of a salt to resist irreversible change in its chemical
or physical structure, often by resisting decomposition at a high relative temperature.
 a. Thermal decomposition of carbonates

● All Ccarbonates of Group IIA and most transition metals undergo thermal decomposition to the
metal oxide and carbon dioxide gas.

If “M” represents any one of the elements, the following describes this decomposition:

● Group IA carbonates { Except LiCO3} do not decompose at laboratory temperatures, although at higher
temperatures this becomes possible. The decomposition temperatures again increase down the group.

LiCO3 ( Group IA Carbonate) behaves in the same way to GIIA, producing lithium oxide and carbon
dioxide.

Why ??

Laboratory temperature = Bunsen flame(1300K) temperature

 b. Thermal decomposition of nitrates
● Heating nitrates of Group IIA and most transition metals produces a metal oxide, nitrogen dioxide and
oxygen:

Group IA:
● Nitrates of sodium and potassium decompose on heating to give nitrites (instead of the oxides) and
oxygen gas;

● The carbonate and nitrate of lithium differ from those of sodium and potassium; they decompose
on heating in the following manner:

Note that both the nitrates and carbonates of lithium are thermally unstable similar to Group IIA. This
reveals that lithium behaves more like Group IIA rather than Group IA.
 Chemical Tests of Some Ions in Salt

● Flame tests are used to identify the presence of a relatively small number of metal
ions in a compound.
● Certain metals give a characteristic color to a Bunsen flame when their solid salts or moist salts
are heated directly in the flame.
● A flame test is commonly used to identify the presence of lithium, sodium, potassium, calcium,
strontium and barium ions in salts.

Reagents used to identify the presence ions in salts :

a. Halide ions - AgNO3 solution
b. Fe+2 and Fe+3 ion - NaOH solution
c. Sulphate ions , SO4-2 - BaCl2 or Ba(NO3)2 solution
🔸Experiments 🔹Exercise 3.12
 🍀Plant Nutrients
Activity

1. List the kind of fertilizers you are familiar with. Which of the listed fertilizers are inorganic salts?

2. Plants need nitrogen for their growth, and there is plenty of nitrogen in the air. If this is so, why do
we apply nitrogeneous fertilizers for plants?

3. Some people prefer to eat organic food that has been grown without fertilizers and pesticides.
Does eating organic food overcome the problems caused by artificial fertilizers?
 🥬 Macronutrients
🌱 Plant Nutrients: Minerals required by plants
for their growth and development. ● elements required in relatively large
amounts by plants.
🌿 Essential nutrients: Elements required by
● Nitrogen ,phosphorus, potassium,
plants for their growth and development.
calcium, magnesium, sulphur, carbon,
- Depending on the amount required by hydrogen and oxygen.
plants, these elements are classified as
macronutrients and micronutrients.
🥒 Micronutrients
- - elements required by plants in relatively small
(trace) amounts.
● iron, cobalt, zinc, manganese,
molybdenum, copper, boron and chlorine.

🍁 The elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are

obtained by plants from air and water (are
not considered as mineral nutrients).
🌴 Nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are said to be primary mineral nutrients.
Fertilizers

● Fertilizers are materials that are added to soils to increase the growth, yield or nutritional value of crops.

Organic ( Natural) fertilizers

- provide readily available nutrients to plants after some period of decay and decomposition and can supply
the elements nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and various trace elements to the
- derived from animals and plants.

Synthetic (artificial) fertilizers

- contain nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium (NPK) and are known as complete fertilizers.

Examples of artificial fertilizers are

- ammonium sulphate, (NH4)2SO4,
- potassium nitrate (KNO3),
- ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3),
- diammonium hydrogen phosphate, DAP, (NH4)2HPO4).
NPK Fertlizers

● The most important mineral nutrients that need to be added to the soil
● All three elements are needed in large quantities.
● Commercial fertilizers are normally given a “grade”, which reflects the percentages they contain of
N, P and K by dry weight.

● The suitable proportions are best determined in relation to the tested fertility of the soil and the
requirements of the particular crop that is being grown on it. {fertilizers of the same
composition are not used for different purposes}.

● All fertilizers are not used for the treatment of all kinds of soil. For example, ammonium
sulphate is more suitable for use in basic soils than in acidic or neutral soils.
 ● Pesticides
- are chemicals that can be applied to crops to kill pests that affect plant growth and
development.
- used to overcome the damage caused by fungi and pests.
- majority of the pesticides used in agriculture are organic compounds. However, there are some
inorganic substances that serve as pesticides.

Examples inorganic pesticides:

● Fumigant insecticides that exist in the vapour phase- hydrogen cyanide (HCN), SO2 , carbon
disulphide (CS2) and phosphine (PH3).

󰗅Mostly used in the treatment of empty transport containers, grain stores, warehouses, harvested
products prior to or during storage and to destroy pests in the soil.

● Other inorganic pesticides are mostly copper compounds such as

- CuCI2 Cu(OH)2 Cu2O- fungicides
- HCN, SO2 , PH3, Cu(OH)2 and CuCO3 - insecticides.
 ● Herbicides

Herbicides (weed killers) are chemicals used to manipulate or control undesirable plants.

Examples :
● Common salt ( NaCl),
● copper sulfate ( CuSO4),
● sodium arsenite (NaAsO2),
● Ammonium sulfamate (NH4SO3NH2),
● sodium chlorate (NaClO3).