Acids, Bases and Salt Preparations

Acids, Bases and Salt Preparations

Acid, Base and Salt Preparations

Salts

• Salts are products of neutralisation reactions between acids and bases.
• Ionically, they consist of a positive metal ion and a negative non-metal ion.
• Examples of salts include sodium chloride (NaCl), potassium nitrate (KNO3) and copper sulfate (CuSO4).

Types of Salt Preparation

• There are three main ways to prepare salts: reaction with a base, acid-carbonate reactions and displacement reactions.

Reaction with a Base

• Reacting an acid with a base is called neutralisation.
• Bases include metal oxides, metal hydroxides or metal carbonates.
• To make a soluble salt, the base should be soluble in water, thus it can be an alkali like sodium hydroxide (NaOH).
• The general equation is acid + base -> salt + water.

Acid-Carbonate Reactions

• Carbonates can also react with acids to produce a salt, releasing carbon dioxide and water.
• The reaction is acid + carbonate -> salt + water + carbon dioxide.

Displacement Reactions

• More reactive metals can displace less reactive metals from their salts in solution.
• This is used to produce salts of reactive metals, like sodium or potassium, which can’t be prepared using the first two methods.
• The reaction is more reactive metal + less reactive metal salt -> less reactive metal + more reactive metal salt.

Remember, the specific methods for preparing salts depend on the reactivity of the metal involved. It is important to understand and be able to predict reactions between acids, bases and salts.