Salts

Syllabus tag: KCSE | Chemistry | Form 2 | Topic 9 Salts

Lesson objectives

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

• Define a salt and classify salts as normal, acid or double salts.
• Describe the methods of preparing soluble and insoluble salts.
• Describe the solubility rules and use them to predict precipitation.
• Describe the action of heat on salts and state their uses.

Summary

A salt is formed when the hydrogen of an acid is wholly or partly replaced by a metal or the ammonium ion. Soluble salts are made by reacting an acid with a metal, base or carbonate, then crystallising. Insoluble salts are made by precipitation — mixing two solutions. The solubility rules decide which method applies.