1. Salts
Hydrated and Anhydrous Salts
The beautiful shapes and colours of some crystals are formed due to the water of crystallization. These crystals require water to maintain their crystalline properties. So let's see what happens when you remove the water of crystallization from crystals by heating it.
Beautiful Chemical Reactions: Crystallisation
Crystallisation is one of the steps involved in salt preparation. Crystals are beautiful, both externally at the macroscopic level and internally at the atomic level. The same is true for the process of crystallization, which is the formation and growth of crystals. This video shows the crystallization of copper sulfate, sodium thiosulfate , potassium ferrioxalate, and sodium acetate. More accurately, these crystals all have water molecules inside them.
2. Salt Preparation
Salt Preparation: A Brief Overview
There are three methods to prepare salts
1) Precipitation
2) Reaction with acids (adding excess of a metal/base/carbonate)
3) Titration (reaction of acid + alkali)
In this video we visit a flowchart which will help us determine which method of salt preparation to use to make a given salt.
Demonstration: Precipitation
Precipitation is a method used to prepare insoluble salts. Here is an overview of the method and try to think about why each step is important.
Beautiful Chemical Reactions: Precipitation
This video features 5 precipitation reactions, each with its own “personality”. In a typical demonstration of precipitation reactions, we see a transparent solution in a test tube at the beginning and a cloudy liquid at the end after adding a few droplets of another solution. However, when we used cubic glass cells to replace test tubes and took a much closer look, their unique beauty was revealed.
Tutorial: Precipitation
This video is created for students carrying out home-based learning in view of school closure.
At the end of this video, you should be able to describe the reagents and method used to prepared a named insoluble salt.
Golden Rain
The precipitation of lead(II) iodide from a solution of potassium iodide and lead nitrate.
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As the precipitation reaction is very quick, the initial precipitate of lead(II) iodide appears as a yellow powder. In order to obtain crystals of lead(II) iodide, re-crystallisation is carried out. This works on the principle that the solubility of a salt increases with temperature.
Demonstration: Reaction of Acids
Adding excess of a solid to an acid is a method used to prepare most soluble salts (except Group I and ammonium salts). Here is an overview of the method and try to think about why each step is important.
Tutorial: Reaction of Acids
This video is created for students carrying out home-based learning in view of school closure.
At the end of this video, you should be able to describe the reagents and method used to prepared a named soluble salt (except Group I or ammonium salt).
Titration
Group I salts or ammonium salts are normally prepared by titration. This involves the neutralisation of an acid with an alkali.
Tutorial: Reaction of Acids
At the end of this video you should be able to:
1) Give examples of salts that can be prepared by titration.
2) State the reagents needed to prepare Group I or ammonium salts
3) Describe and explain the steps taken to prepare a salt using titration.
Salt Preparation Method Generator
Use this App to test yourself on salt preparation.
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Select a given salt and you will see the suggested method of preparation.
Salt Preparation Quiz
In these uncertain times, you manage to find a highly sought-after job as a chemist. As part of your work, you have to research on six highly useful salts and come up with ways to produce them. Time is of the essence!
The Chemistry of Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are tiny, rock-like structures that can cause intense pain when they move through the urinary tract. Around the world, people have turned to home remedies in search of relief, and one of the most popular suggestions is lemon juice. Since lemons are rich in citric acid, could this sour drink actually have the power to break down something as solid as a kidney stone?
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This is an interesting video that ties in concepts from Acids and Bases, Salt Preparation, Chemical Bonding and Chemical Formulae.