Naming Salts (Oxford AQA IGCSE Chemistry)

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Chemistry

The name of a salt has two parts
The first part comes from the metal, metal oxide or metal carbonate used in the reaction
The second part comes from the acid
Hydrochloric acid
- This always produces salts that end in chloride and contain the chloride ion, Cl^–
Sulfuric acid
- This always produces salts that end in sulfate and contain the sulfate ion, SO₄^2–
Nitric acid
- This always produces salts that end in nitrate and contain the nitrate ion, NO₃^–

Acid	Base	Name of Salt	Formula of Salt
Sulfuric acid, H₂SO₄	Calcium carbonate, CaCO₃	Calcium sulfate	CaSO₄
Hydrochloric acid, HCl	Magnesium oxide, MgO	Magnesium chloride	MgCl₂
Nitric acid, HNO₃	Potassium hydroxide, KOH	Potassium nitrate	KNO₃

Name the salts formed in the following reactions:

Answer:

To name the salt, use the name of the metal followed by the type of acid

Write the balanced symbol equation for the reaction between nitric acid and calcium hydroxide.

Answer

Step 1: Write the formula of the reactants

Step 2: Write the formula of the products of the reaction

Step 3: Write the symbol equation and balance

HNO₃+ Ca(OH)₂→ Ca(NO₃)₂+ H₂O
- There are two nitrate ions on the right hand side so a 2 must be placed in front of the HNO₃
2HNO₃+ Ca(OH)₂→ Ca(NO₃)₂+ H₂O
- There are now 4 hydrogen atoms on the left hand side so a 2 should be placed in front of the H₂O
2HNO₃+ Ca(OH)₂→ Ca(NO₃)₂+ 2H₂O

to absolutely everything:

the (exam) results speak for themselves:

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