SALT PREPERATION

- A salt is a substance formed when the hydrogen ion of an acid is displaced either partly or

-
wholly by a positive ion (metal or ammonium ion)
Salts are usually named after the acid that is involved in the reaction.

Acid Salt

Hydrochloric acid Chlorides

Sulphuric acid Sulphates

Nitric acid Nitrates

Phosphoric acid Phosphates

Carbonic acid Carbonates

Ethanoic acid Ethanoates

- Salts can either be soluble or insoluble

Soluble salts
They are salts that dissolves in water to form a solution
Insoluble salts
They are slats that do not dissolve in water.
The form a precipitate in water

- In order to know the slats that are soluble and those that are insoluble , you need to know the
solubility pattern.

The solubility pattern

i) All chlorides are soluble except Lead (II) chloride and silver chloride.
ii) All sulphates are soluble except Lead (ii) sulphate Barium sulphate and calcium
sulphate.
Calcium sulphate is sparingly soluble in hot water.
iii) All Nitrates are soluble

1
 iv) All Carbonates are insoluble except potassium, sodium and ammonium carbonates
i) All hydroxides are insoluble except potassium, sodium and ammonium hydroxides.

Preparation of soluble salts

- There are several methods that are used to prepare soluble salts

1. Displacement reaction
This is the reaction between an acid and a metal which forms a salt and hydrogen gas.

Acid + Metal Salt + Hydrogen

Examples
i) Hydrochloric+ Magnesium Magnesium Chloride +Hydrogen
ii) Magnesium + Sulphuric acid Magnesium Sulphate + Hydrogen
iii) Magnesium + Nitrate acid Magnesium Nitrate + Hydrogen

NB

- This method only works with metals that are above hydrogen in the reactivity series.

-
2. Neutralisation Reaction

-
This is the reaction between an acid and an alkali or base.

-
Alkalis are mostly metal hydroxide while bases are mostly metal oxides.
A salt and water are usually formed

Acid + Alkali Salt + water

Acid + Base Salt + water

Example

i) Zinc oxide + Sulphuric Acid Zinc Sulphate + Water

ii) Sodium + Hydrochloric acid Sodium Chloride + Water.

3. Action of an acid on a carbonate forming a salt, water and carbon

dioxide gas

Acid + Carbonate Salt + Water + Carbon Dioxide.

Example

i) Calcium carbonate + Hydrochloric acid Calcium Chloride + Water + Carbon

dioxide.

Magnesium

2
Carbonate + Sulphuric acid Magnesium sulphate + Water +carbon dioxide.

Key points to note when preparing soluable salts

- For instance, if one is to prepare zinc chloride using displacement method, then the
i) The chemicals and apparatus to be used.

- If the same zinc chloride is to be prepared through neutralization reaction, then the most
appropriate metal and acid would be zinc and hydrochloric acid respectively.

appropriate alkali or base and acid would be zinc oxide and hydrochloric acid respectively.
ii) The observation made.

NB In most experiments, the acid is first warmed. This is mainly done to increase the rate of
reaction.

- All reactions that a gas is formed the main observation is the formation of bubbles

-
(effervescence )e.g the reaction between an acid and a carbonate.
Other reactions where no gas is produced, the observation could be a sharp colour change in

-
the solution or no observable change.
For instance in the reaction between copper (II) oxide and dilute sulphuric acid to form

-
copper(II) sulphate, the solution turns blue immediately.
In the reaction between sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid, there may not be any
observable change at first.

-
iii) The end – point of a reaction
The end –point of a reaction means that ;
a) There is no further reaction taking place

-
b) All the acid has reacted.
All reactions where a gas is produced, the end – point is reached when there are no more

-
bubbles being formed.

-
For reactions such as neutralization reactions, the end point is marked using an indicator.
For instance, when preparing sodium chloride, using sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric
acid, phenolphalein is added to the an alkali, a pink solution and after enough acid is added

-
to a point of neutralization, the solution turns back to colourless.

-
This is the end – point.
For preparation of copper (II) sulphate using copper oxide and sulphuric acid, blue litmus

-
paper may be used.
When blue litmus paper is dipped into the acid before the reaction, it turns red. After enough
copper(II) oxide has been added, the blue litmus paper does not tune red. This is the end-
point.

4. Next step after the end – point

3
- For reactions where insoluble particles are left, filtration has to be done to obtain clean

-
solution e.g metal and acid or a base acid.
For the reaction between an acid and an alkali, this step is not necessary because a clear
solution is formed.

-
5. Obtaining the crystals
Heat the solution to evaporation.

-
a) When small crystals are required, then the evaporation is done to dryness.
This is done until when a crackling sound of the crystals known as descripitation is
produced.

-
b) When large crystals are required, then the evaporation is done to crystalisation.
Crystallization can be checked by constantly dipping in a glass rod and checking whether

-
crystals form on it.
When crystals forms, then the heating is stopped and the solution is allowed to cool fro

-
crystals to form.
The crystals formed are referred to as hydrated because they contain water of crystalisation.

Making magnesium sulphate crystals

- Enough magnesium is added to some dilute sulphuric acid so that there is some left over

-
when the reaction stops bubbling. This is to ensure that all the acid has reacted.

Mg ( s )+ H 2 SO4 ( aq ) MgSO 4 ( aq ) + H 2 ( g)

- The unused magnesium is then filtered off, and the magnesium sulphate solution is
concentrated by boiling it until crystals will form when it is cooled. This can be tested by

-
dipping in a glass rod and see whether crystals form when it cools in the air.

-
The solution is finally left to form colourless magnesium sulphate crystals.
Any uncrystallised solution can be blotted dry with tissue paper.

4
Making copper (II) sulphate crystals from copper (II) oxide

-
-
Add an excess of black copper (II) oxide to hot dilute sulphuric acid.
The unreacted copper(II) oxide will be seen in the solution

CuO(s) + H 2 SO4 (aq) CuSO 4 (aq) + H 2O(l)

CuSO 4 (aq) +5 H 2O(l) CuSO 4 (aq) . 5 H 2O(l)

Making sodium sulphate crystals

- 25cm3 of sodium hydroxide solution is transferred to a conical flask using a pipette and a

-
few drops of methyl orange are added as the indicator
Dilute sulphuric acid is run in from the burette until the indicator turns yellow to orange.

NB

5
If phenolphthalein indicator is added to the alkali, the solution turns from pink to colourless
when enough acid is added.

- The volume of acid needed is noted, and the same volume of acid alkali are mixed together

-
in a clead flask without any indicator.
The solution can be crystalised by evaporating it to the point that crystals will form on

-
cooling .
The crystals are finally separated from any remaining solution and allowed to dry.

MAKING SODIUM CHLORIDE CRYSTALS

-
Diagram

-
The titration is done using dilute hydrochloric acid rather than dilute sulphuric acid.
Once the acid and the alkali have been re- mixed without the indicator , then the sodium

-
chloride solution can be evaporated to dryness rather than crystalising it slowly.
Sodium chloride crystals don’t contain any water of crystalisation

Making ammonium sulphate crystals.

2 NH 3 (aq) + H 2 SO4 ( aq ) ( NH 4 )2 SO 4(aq)

-
-
The method is the same as when using sodium hydroxide.
Although simple ammonium salts don’t have water of crystallization, they would rather be

-
crystallised slowly rather than evaporating them to dryness.
Heating dry ammonium salts tends to break them up.

Making insoluble salts

-
-
Insoluble salts are prepared through precipitation reactions.

-
A precipitation reaction is a reaction that produces a precipitate.
A precipitate is a fine solid that is formed by a chemical reaction involving liquids or

-
gases.
In order to prepare an insoluble slat, we require solutions of soluble salts.

Preparation of lead (II) sulphate ( PbSO 4)

a) A soluble lead salt e.g lead (II) nitrate ( PbNO3 )2
b) A soluble sulphate salt e.g sodium sulphate ¿ ¿)

Procedure

6
-
-
Make a solution of the two salts by dissolving them in distilled water in separate containers.
Mix the two solutions in one container and observe. A white precipitate of lead (II)

-
sulphate is formed.

-
Filter to obtain the crystals as a residue on a filter paper.

-
Wash the crystals by adding distilled water to remove any chemicals
Transfer the crystals between two dry filter papers and allow them to dry.

Pb ¿

Ionic equation

2−¿ ( aq ) PbSO4 (s ) ¿
2+¿ ( aq ) +SO 4 ¿
Pb