Soulable salts notes
Thursday, February 22, 2024 6:26 PM
Preparing Soluble Salts
Salts
• A salt is a compound that is formed when the hydrogen atom in an acid is replaced by
a metal
• For example if we replace the H in HCl with a potassium atom, then the salt potassium
chloride is formed, KCl
• Salts are an important branch of chemistry due to the varied and important uses of this
class of compounds
• These uses include fertilisers, batteries, cleaning products, healthcare products and
fungicides
Naming salts
• The name of a salt has two parts
○ The first part comes from the metal, metal oxide or metal carbonate used in the
reaction
○ The second part comes from the acid
• The name of the salt can be determined by looking at the reactants
• For example hydrochloric acid always produces salts that end in chloride and contain
the chloride ion, Cl-
○ Sodium hydroxide reacts with hydrochloric acid to produce sodium chloride
○ Zinc oxide reacts with sulfuric acid to produce zinc sulfateOther examples:
Preparing salts
• Some salts can be extracted by mining but others need to be prepared in the laboratory
• The method used depends on the solubility of the salt being prepared
Preparing soluble salts
Method A: Adding acid to a solid metal, insoluble base or insoluble carbonate
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Diagram showing the preparation of soluble salts
Method:
• Add dilute acid into a beaker and heat using a bunsen burner flame
• Add the insoluble metal, base or carbonate, a little at a time, to the warm dilute acid and
stir until the base is in excess (i.e. until the base stops disappearing and a suspension of
the base forms in the acid)
• Filter the mixture into an evaporating basin to remove the excess base
• Heat the solution to evaporate water and to make the solution saturated. Check the
solution is saturated by dipping a cold, glass rod into the solution and seeing if crystals
form on the end
• Leave the filtrate in a warm place to dry and crystallize
• Decant excess solution and allow crystals to dry or blot to dry with filter paper
Example: Preparation of pure, hydrated copper(II) sulfate crystals using method A
Acid = dilute sulfuric acid
Insoluble base = copper(II) oxide
Method:
• Add dilute sulfuric acid into a beaker and heat using a bunsen burner flame
• Add copper(II) oxide (insoluble base), a little at a time to the warm dilute sulfuric acid and
stir until the copper (II) oxide is in excess (stops disappearing)
• Filter the mixture into an evaporating basin to remove the excess copper(II) oxide
• Leave the filtrate in a warm place to dry and crystallize
• Decant excess solution
• Blot crystals dry with filter paper
Equation of reaction:
copper(II) oxide + sulfuric acid → copper(II) sulphate + water
CuO (s) + H2SO4 (aq) → CuSO4 (aq) + H2O (l)
Method B: Reacting a dilute acid and alkali (soluble base)
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Diagram showing the apparatus needed to prepare a salt by titration
Method:
• Use a pipette to measure the alkali into a conical flask and add a few drops of indicator
(thymolphthalein or methyl orange)
• Add the acid into the burette and note the starting volume
• Add the acid very slowly from the burette to the conical flask until the indicator changes
to the appropriate colour
• Note and record the final volume of acid in the burette and calculate the volume of acid
added (starting volume of acid - final volume of acid)
• Add this same volume of acid into the same volume of alkali without the indicator
• Heat the resulting solution in an evaporating basin to partially evaporate, leaving a
saturated solution (crystals just forming on the sides of the basin or on a glass rod dipped
in and then removed)
• Leave to crystallise, decant excess solution and allow crystals to dry
From <https://www.savemyexams.com/o-level/chemistry/cie/23/revision-notes/7-acids-bases-and-salts/7-3-preparation-of-
salts/preparing-soluble-salts/>
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