PREPARATION OF YEAR 11 CHEMISTRY

SALTS
 Describe the preparation, separation and purification
of salts
Describe the preparation of insoluble salts by

OBJECTIV precipitation
Suggest a method of making a given salt from suitable
ES AND starting material, given appropriate information

KEYWOR Keywords: Soluble salt, crystallization, evaporation,

DS excess reactant, insoluble bases, alkalis, titration
method, filtration, solubility rule
  Reacting a metal with an acid
 Reacting an insoluble base with an acid
 Neutralising an alkali with an acid by the titration
THERE ARE method
FOUR WAYS • By precipitation

OF MAKING • Not all these methods are suitable for making a

particular salt. So we should choose the method
SALTS that best fits the type of salt we want to make. We
also should choose the best method of purifying the
salt.
 We can make salts by reacting acids with metals, but
this method is only suitable for metals above
hydrogen in the reactivity series. So we can make
salts of magnesium, zinc and aluminium in this way.
For example, to make zinc sulfate, we carry out the
following reaction
SALTS Zn(s) + H2SO4(aq) ZnSO4(aq) + H2(g)

zinc + sulphuric acid zinc sulfate + hydroge

FROM
METALS We cannot use this type of reaction for making salts of copper,
lead and silver which are too close to nor below hydrogen in the
reactivity series. Also, it is not a good idea to prepare salts of very
reactive metals such as sodium and potassium using this method.
The reaction of these metals with the acid is too violent – a
titration method is more suitable in these cases.
PROCEDURE FOR REACTING
ACIDS WITH METALS
 Add the metal to the acid in a flask so that the metal is in excess. The acid
is the limiting reagent.
 Warm the flask gently to complete the reaction.
 Filter off the excess metal. The filtrate is a solution of the metal salt
 Put the filtrate into an evaporating basin and evaporate the water until
the crystallisation point is reached. Then you allow the salt to crystallise
at room temperature
 Filter off the crystals and wash them with a tiny amount of water so they
don’t dissolve
 Dry the crystals between sheets of filter paper
SALTS FROM INSOLUBLE
BASES
We can make salts of many metals by reacting an insoluble base with
an acid. We use this method for making salts of metals that are low
in the reactivity series. For example, to make copper(ll)sulfate, we
carry out the following reaction:
CuO(s) + H2SO4(aq) CuSO4(aq) + H2O(l)

copper(ll)oxide + Sulfuric acid copper(ll) sulfate + water

The method is exactly the same as for making salts by reacting a metal with an acid,
for example making copper sulfate from copper (ll) oxide.
SALTS FROM INSOLUBLE
BASES OR METALS STAGES
 We can use titration to make a soluble salt from a soluble base
and an acid. This method is used to make salts of the Group l
metals and ammonium salts.

We use an acid-alkali titration to find out how much acid is

needed to react exactly with a solution of an alkali. We use an
indicator to find when the acid has just reacted with all the
alkali. We call this the end point of the titration. At the end
point, the indicator changes colour. The indicator we choose
TITRATION depends on whether we use a strong or weak acid or alkali:

METHOD 

For a strong acid and alkali, we can use any indicator.
If we are making a salt from a weak alkali, for example ammonia,
we titrate with a strong acid. We use methyl orange indicator. This
goes from orange to red when there is excess acid.
 If we are making a salt from a weak acid, for example ethanoic
acid, we use a strong base. We use phenolphthalein indicator. This
goes from pink to colourless when there is excess acid.
 You use the following sequence to carry out a titration:

PROCEDU
1. First wash the pipette with a little of the alkali you are using. Measure a known volume of
alkali into the titration flask using a volumetric pipette.

2. Add a few drops of indicator solution to the alkali in the flask.

RE TO 3. First wash the burette with a little of the acid you are using. Fill a clean burette with acid.

CARRY
4. Record the burette reading.

5. Open the burette tap and let the acid flow into the flask. Keep swirling the flask gently to make
sure that the acid and alkali mix and react.

OUT 6. Keep adding the acid slowly until the indicator changes colour. This is the end point.

TITRATIO
7. Record the reading on the burette. The final reading minus the initial reading is called the titre.
The first time you do this gives you the rough titre or ‘range-finder’ titre.

8. Repeat this process at least three times. You can add the acid rapidly until you are a few cm 2

N
from the end point. Then add the acid drop by drop so that you can get an accurate titre.

9. If you are doing calculations to find the concentration of the alkali in the flask, you take the
average of the accurate titres. You can ignore any titres that appear to be inconsistent.
TITRATION
 We can make a soluble salt by titrating an alkali with
PREPARING an acid. For example, if we want to make potassium
sulfate, we carry out the reaction:
AN
UNCONTA
2KOH(aq) + H2SO4­(aq) K2SO4(aq) + H2O(l)

MINATED
potassium hydroxide + sulfuric acid pota

SALT BY We first carry out a titration using an indicator to find

TITRATION the correct volumes of solution to mix. Then we carry
it out without an indicator to prepare a sample of the
METHOD salt uncontaminated by indicator.
Some salts are insoluble. We make these
Soluble Compounds Insoluble Compounds
salts by mixing two soluble compounds. The
All salts of Group l elements  
solid obtained when solutions of two soluble
All nitrates  
compounds are mixed is called a precipitate.
All ammonium salts  
Most chlorides, bromides and Chlorides, bromides and iodides of
If we are going to make salts by iodides silver and lead
precipitation, we have to know which Most sulfates Sulphates of calcium, barium and
compounds are soluble in water and which lead
are insoluble in water. Fortunately for us, Group l hydroxides and Most hydroxides and carbonates
there are some rules which help us to do carbonates are soluble (calcium
hydroxide is slightly soluble)
this. We call these rules the solubility rules.
Group l and ll oxides react with Most metal oxides
These rules are shown in the table: water

PRECIPITATION METHOD
 Lead If we want to make an insoluble salt, for example lead chloride, we

Identify Identify the ions present in the insoluble salt – lead and chloride STEPS TO
USE IN
Use
Use our solubility rules to choose soluble compounds including these
ions – for example, lead nitrate for the lead and sodium chloride for the
chloride MAKING
INSOLUB
Add Add one solution to the other
LE SALTS
Filter off Filter off the precipitate then wash and dry the solid
PREPARATION OF INSOLUBLE
SALTS
 We can explain why a solid precipitate by looking at the reaction
between lead nitrate and sodium chloride as an example.
Pb (NO3)2(aq) + 2NaCl(aq) PbCl2(s) + 2NaNO3(aq)
We know that in a solution of an ionic compound, the ions are free
to move. So our solution of nitrate contains lead ions and nitrate
WHAT HAPPENS ions that are separate from one another. They are able to move
IN A freely and randomly throughout the water. The water molecules
help to keep them in solution. A similar thing happens with our
PRECIPITATION solution of sodium chloride.

REACTION? When we mix the solutions, the insoluble salt, lead chloride, is
precipitated. The lead ions in solution have a greater attraction for
the chloride ions than the water molecules that keep them in
solution. So the lead ions and chloride ions come together in large
numbers and form a three – dimensional ionic lattice. The sodium
ions and nitrate ions remain in solution. They are the spectator
ions.
CLASS
TASK
Complete
Chemistry for
IGCSE
REFEREN
Chemistry for CES
IGCSE by Nelson
Thrones