Introduction to Salt

Salts and Their Properties:-

In Chemistry, a salt is a solid chemical compound consisting of an ionic assembly of  cations and anions. Salts are composed of related numbers of cations (positively charged ions) and anions (negative ions) so that the product is electrically neutral (without a net charge).

Types of salt:-

• Salts having same positive and negative radicals are said to belong to a family.
• Example: NaCl and Na₂SO₄ belong to the family of sodium salts.
• NaCl and KCl belong to chloride salts.

ACIDIC SALTS:- These salts contain H⁺ ions. It is formed when there is partial replacement of H⁺ ions from acid

Example: H₂SO₄ + KOH → KHSO4 + H₂O

H₃PO₄ + 2NaOH → Na₂HPO₄ + 2H₂O

Basic salts:- These salts contain OH^- ions. It is formed when there is partial replacement of OH^- ions from Base.

Example: Pb(OH)₂ + HCL → Pb(OH)CL + H₂O

Normal salt:- Formed by the reaction of Acid + Base when there is complete replacement of H⁺ and OH^- ions from acid and base

Example:-  H₂SO₄ + 2NaOH → Na₂SO₄ + H₂O

Double salts:- It contains atleast 2 salts.

example:-

Potash Alum [K₂SO₄.Al₂(SO₄)₃.24H₂O]

Dolomite[CaCO₃.MgCO₃]

Ferrous Ammonium sulphate[FeSO₄.(NH₄)₃SO₄.6H₂O]

Mixed Salt:- It contains either 2 Cation H⁺ or 2 Anion OH^-

example: Bleaching powder [CaOCl2]

USES:-

The common salt thus obtained is an important raw material for various materials of daily use, such as sodium hydroxide, baking soda, washing soda, bleaching powder and many more. Let us see how one substance is used for making all these different substances in the next topic.