Describing salts
I can describe salts and work out their empirical chemical formulae from diagrams, as well as give ionic descriptions of acids and alkalis.
Describing salts
I can describe salts and work out their empirical chemical formulae from diagrams, as well as give ionic descriptions of acids and alkalis.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- A salt is formed when an acid neutralises a base.
- Salts are giant, 3D ionic structures that form crystals with regular arrangements of ions.
- The empirical chemical formula of a salt provides the ratio of metal to non-metal ions it contains.
- Acids contain aqueous hydrogen ions, H⁺(aq) and alkalis contain aqueous hydroxide ions, OH⁻(aq).
- During a neutralisation reaction: H⁺(aq) + OH⁻(aq) → H₂O(l).
Common misconception
Pupils regularly think that neutralisation produces a neutral (i.e. pH 7) solution.
Stress that neutralisation occurs from a complete reaction between an acid and base, which usually occurs between strong acids and strong bases. If a weak acid or weak base is used, the salt solution produced may be alkaline or acidic respectively.
Keywords
Salt - An ionic compound formed from positive and negative ions electrostatically attracted to each other.
Empirical formula - Shows the simplest whole number ratio of atoms of each element in a compound.
Acid - A solution that has a pH of less than 7.
Base - Reacts with an acid to form a salt.
Neutralisation - A chemical reaction between an acid and base, producing a solution of a metal salt and water.
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
HCl
H₂SO₄
HNO₃
pH 6
pH 8
a soluble base
cause chemical burns to skin