The Three Methods for Making Salts

The three methods for making different salts are:

1. Making soluble salts (except sodium, potassium and ammonium salts)
2. Making sodium, potassium and ammonium salts
3. Making insoluble salts
Steps to making salts – they’re jumbled up so put them in order!

Making soluble salts e.g. CuSO4 (except sodium, potassium and ammonium salts)

 Transfer the filtrate to an evaporating dish and heat to boil off some of the solution to make it more
concentrated – do not boil it dry
 Add copper oxide until there is some left that will not react (you have added excess so there is no
more acid left)
 Filter the excess copper oxide
 Measure acid into a beaker and heat it
 Allow the mixture to cool slowly at room temperature
 Add copper oxide to your acid and continue to heat it.
 Pat dry with a paper towel

Making sodium, potassium and ammonium salts (e.g. sodium chloride)

 Use the ‘titration’ method

 Add dilute hydrochloric acid into the flask from the burette until the indicator turns from yellow to
orange (red is too far)
 This solution is heated to evaporate some of the water until a saturated solution is formed
 Add NaOH solution to a flask using a pipette, with methyl orange as the indicator
 Allow the mixture to cool slowly at room temperature

Making insoluble salts (e.g. lead sulfate)

 Transfer the crystals/powder to a dry place (oven if there is one available) so the water evaporates
 A precipitate will form
 Filter the reaction mixture so you can catch the crystals you made (and are trying to obtain)
 Use the precipitate method
 Take 25cm3 of lead nitrate in a beaker and add 25cm3 of sodium sulfate
 Wash the crystals you have made with distilled water. Repeat this step two more times