C.S.E.C Chemistry F4 Salts Ms. S.

Ramkissoon

Salts
Salts are formed when metal ions or the ammonium ion (NH+4) takes the place of some or
ALL of the hydrogen ions in an acid.

There are two types of salts, normal salts and acid salts.
Normal Salts is formed when ALL of the hydrogen ions in the acid are replaced.
Normal salts have a pH of 7 because there are NO replaceable H+ ions

Acid Salts are formed when some of the hydrogen ions are replaced.
Acid salts have a pH below 7 because there are still SOME replaceable H+ ions in the
structure.

The type of salt produced depends on the quantity of reactants used.

Examples of other acid salts

NaHSO4 , Ca(HCO3)2

Example: Working out the formula of the salt produced in the reactions given and write a
balanced equation for the reaction.

1. Write the reaction between hydrochloric acid, HCl, (acid) and sodium hydroxide
NaOH (Base)

- Acid + Base  salt + water

- Salt is made up of an anion and cation
- Cation is from the metal ion & anion comes from the acid

NaOH – Na+ (metal cation)

HCl  H+ + Cl- (anion)

Formula of Salt
Metal ion Anion from Salt Formula of Salt
Na+ Cl- NaCl

HCl(aq) + NaOH (aq)  NaCl (aq) + H2O (l)

Practice Questions and answers

1. Write the anions found in the following acids
a) sulphuric acid (H2SO4) H2SO4 (aq)  2H+ + SO2- 4
b) Nitric acid (HNO3) HNO3 (aq)  H+ + NO-3
c) Phosphoric acid (H3PO4) H3PO4 (aq)  3H+ + PO3- 4
d) Ethanoic acid (CH3COOH) CH3COOH(aq)  CH3COO- + H+
e) Sulphurous acid (H2SO3) H2SO3 (aq)  2H+ + SO2- 3 (sulphite anion)
f) Nitrous acid (HNO2) HNO2 (aq)  H+ + NO- 2 (Nitrite anion)

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C.S.E.C Chemistry F4 Salts Ms. S.Ramkissoon

The different name (e.g. chlorides & nitrates) of salts formed depends on the anion,
which comes from the type of acid used.

Solubility and Preparation of Salts

The solubility of salts becomes very important when we need to determine a suitable
method to prepare a particular salt.
It’s also very useful to know the solubility of salts, to write the correct state symbols in
balanced equations.

The scheme below can be followed to determine the most suitable to prepare a salt.

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C.S.E.C Chemistry F4 Salts Ms. S.Ramkissoon

Note: binary salts are those made from a metal ion and a simple, single non-metal ion.
e.g. NaCl, LiF, BaCl2

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C.S.E.C Chemistry F4 Salts Ms. S.Ramkissoon

Description of methods 1-3 used in the 2nd table on pages 3

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C.S.E.C Chemistry F4 Salts Ms. S.Ramkissoon