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Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Your notes

Chemistry
Preparation of Salts
Contents
Preparing Soluble Salts
Preparing Insoluble Salts
Solubility Rules
Hydrated & Anhydrous Salts

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Preparing Soluble Salts

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Preparing soluble salts
What is a salt?
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
The method used depends on the solubility of the salt being prepared

How to name a salt

The name of 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-
Other examples:
Sodium hydroxide reacts with hydrochloric acid to produce sodium chloride
Zinc oxide reacts with sulfuric acid to produce zinc sulfate

Preparing soluble salts

There are two methods of preparing a solution salt:
Method A
Adding acid to a solid metal, insoluble base or insoluble carbonate
Method B
Reacting a dilute acid and alkali (soluble base)

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Method A
Method A: Adding acid to a solid metal, insoluble base or insoluble Your notes
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

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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)
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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
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
copper(II) oxide + sulfuric acid → copper(II) sulphate + water
CuO (s) + H2SO4 (aq) → CuSO4 (aq) + H2O (l)

Method B
Method B: Reacting a dilute acid and alkali (soluble base)

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Your notes

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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
Record the starting volume of acid in the burette
Add the acid very slowly from the burette to the conical flask until the indicator changes to the
appropriate colour
Record the final volume of acid in the burette
Calculate the volume of acid added
Final volume of acid - initial volume of acid
Add this same volume of acid to the same volume of alkali without the indicator

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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)
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Leave to crystallise, decant excess solution and allow crystals to dry

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Preparing Insoluble Salts

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Preparing insoluble salts
Extended tier only
Insoluble salts can be prepared using a precipitation reaction
The solid salt obtained is the precipitate, thus in order to successfully use this method the solid salt
being formed must be insoluble in water, and the reactants must be soluble

Using two soluble reactants

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Diagram showing the filtration of the mixture to remove the precipitate

Method
Dissolve soluble salts in water and mix together using a stirring rod in a beaker
Filter to remove precipitate from mixture
Wash the residue with distilled water to remove traces of other solutions
Leave in an oven to dry

Example: Preparation of pure, dry lead(II) sulfate crystals using a

precipitation reaction
Dissolve lead(II) nitrate and potassium sulfate in water and mix together using a stirring rod in a beaker
Filter to remove precipitate from mixture
Wash precipitate with distilled water to remove traces of potassium nitrate solution
Leave in an oven to dry
lead(II) nitrate + potassium sulfate → lead(II) sulfate + potassium nitrate
Pb(NO3)2 (aq) + K2SO4 (aq) → PbSO4 (s) + 2KNO3 (aq)

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Solubility Rules
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Solubility rules
Salts are prepared by different methods, depending on whether the salt is soluble or insoluble so it is
important to know the solubility of salts

Solubility of the common salts

Salts Soluble Insoluble

Sodium, potassium and All None

ammonium

Nitrates All None

Chlorides Most are soluble Silver and lead(II)

Sulfates Most are soluble Barium, calcium

and lead(II)

Carbonates Carbonates of sodium, potassium and ammonium Most are insoluble

Hydroxides Hydroxides of sodium potassium and ammonium Most are insoluble

(calcium hydroxide is sparingly soluble)

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Hydrated & Anhydrous Salts

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Hydrated & anhydrous salts
When salts are being prepared, some water can be retained within the structure of the salt during the
crystallisation process
Salts that contain water within their structure are called hydrated salts
Anhydrous salts are those that contain no water in their structure
A common example is copper(II) sulfate which crystallises forming the salt hydrated copper(II) sulfate,
which is blue
When it is heated, the water from its structure is removed, forming anhydrous copper(II) sulfate, which
is white
The hydrated salt has been dehydrated to form the anhydrous salt
This reaction can be reversed by adding water to anhydrous copper(II) sulfate
hydrated copper(II) sulfate ⇌ anhydrous copper(II) sulfate + water

Water of crystallisation
Extended tier only
Water molecules included in the structure of some salts during the crystallisation process are known as
water of crystallisation
A compound that contains water of crystallisation is called a hydrated compound
When writing the chemical formula of hydrated compounds, the water of crystallisation is separated
from the main formula by a dot:
Hydrated copper(II) sulfate is CuSO4∙5H2O
Hydrated cobalt(II) chloride is CoCl2∙6H2O
The formula shows the number of moles of water contained within one mole of the hydrated salt:
Hydrated copper(II) sulfate, CuSO4∙5H2O, contains 5 moles of water in 1 mole of hydrated salt
A compound which doesn’t contain water of crystallisation is called an anhydrous compound:
Anhydrous copper(II) sulfate is CuSO4
Anhydrous cobalt(II) chloride is CoCl2

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The conversion of anhydrous compounds to hydrated compounds is reversible by heating the

hydrated salt:
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Anhydrous to hydrated salt:
CuSO4 + 5H2O → CuSO4∙5H2O
Hydrated to anhydrous salt (by heating):
CuSO4∙5H2O → CuSO4 + 5H2O
Hydrated copper(II) sulfate and anhydrous copper(II) sulfate

Diagram showing the dehydration of hydrated copper(II) sulfate

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