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Title: The Solubility of Some Salts of Group II Elements

Objective: To determine the trends in solubility of the Group II carbonates, sulphates, sulphites
and hydroxides.

Introduction:
Beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium and radium are the elements of Group
II. The Group II elements are also widely known as the alkaline earth metal which has the
ability to form salts with different anions. Hydroxides, sulphates, sulphites and carbonates are
the anions to be used in this experiment to be tested with selected Group II cations. The selected
cations includes, magnesium, calcium, strontium and barium.
The solubility of hydroxides, sulphates, sulphites and carbonates of the selected Group II
cations are tested in this experiment. The formation or absence of precipitate can be compared
to study the solubility of the salts. The number of drops of anion needed to form the precipitate
determines the solubility. If the precipitate is seen as early as the first drop, the salt is said to
be partially soluble or insoluble, depending on the intensity of the precipitate formed. Certain
Group II salts can be considered soluble when there is no precipitation even after excessive
addition of anions.

Apparatus and Materials:


Test tubes, dropper, test tube rack, 0.1M solutions of; Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr2+ and Ba2+ , 0.5M
solutions of; SO42-, SO32- , CO32- and 1.0M solutions of OH-

Procedure:
1. Two rows of four test tubes each were set up.
2. For the first row, the first test tube was labelled as Mg2+, the second test tube was
labelled as Ca2+, the third as Sr2+ and the fourth was labelled as Ba2+.
3. 1ml of the appropriate solution was added to each of the test tube.
4. The second row of test tubes were named as OH-, SO42-, SO32- and CO32-
5. The OH- was added drop by drop with shaking to each cation solution until the first
sign of precipitate appeared.
6. The number of drops of solution used were recorded.
7. Steps 5 and 6 were repeated with the remaining anions and cations.
8. If a precipitate appeared suddenly, during the addition of a drop, then the precipitate
was classified as either slight (s) or heavy (h).
9. If there was no precipitate after about 40 drop then it was recorded as “40+ soluble”

Results:
Cation solution Number of drops of anion solution added to give a precipitate
OH- SO42- SO32- CO32-

Mg2+ 1 drop 40+ 40+ 40+


(s) (soluble) (soluble) (soluble)
Ca2+ 6 drops 40+ 8 drops 9 drops
(s) (soluble) (s) (s)
Sr2+ 40+ 5 drops 1 drop 6 drops
(soluble) (s) (h) (s)
Ba2+ 40+ 1 drop 1 drop 3 drops
(soluble) (h) (h) (s)
Table 4.1

Singly – charged anions Doubly – charged anions


Solubility / mol per Solubility / mol per
Compound Compound
100g of water 100 g of water
-1
MgCl2 5.6 x 10 MgCO3 1.8 x 10-4
-1
CaCl2 5.4 x 10 CaCO3 0.13 x 10-4
SrCl2 3.5 x 10-1 SrCO3 0.07 x 10-4
-1
BaCl2 1.5 x 10 BaCO3 0.09 x 10-4
Mg(NO3) 4.9 x 10-1 MgSO4 3600 x 10-4
-1
Ca(NO3) 6.2 x 10 CaSO4 11 x 10-4
-1
Sr (NO3) 1.6 x 10 SrSO4 0.62 x 10-4
Ba(NO3) 0.4 x 10-1 BaSO4 0.009 x 10-4
Mg(OH)2 0.020 x 10-3 MgCrO4 8500 x 10-4
-3
Ca(OH)2 1.5 x 10 CaCrO4 870 x 10-4
-3
Sr(OH)2 3.4 x 10 SrCrO4 5.9 x 10-4
Ba(OH)2 15 x 10-3 BaCrO4 0.011 x 10-4
Table 4.2 Solubility of Group II compounds in water at 298K
Discussion:
Group II metals are known as alkaline earth metals. The Group II elements donate 2 valence
electrons to the non-metals in order to achieve stable octet configuration. The non-metals, being
more electronegative, are more likely to accept electrons from Group II elements to achieve
stable octet configuration as well. Hence, ionic bonds are formed. In this experiment, the
solubility of Group II salts were studied.
In this experiment, solubility of the Group II hydroxides decreases and increasesdownthe
group. The solubility of sulphates, sulphites and the carbonates Group II decreases down the
group.
Based on Table 4.2, the solubility of Group II chlorides, sulphates and chromates decreases
moving down the group. The size of the metal ions are smaller than the non-metal anions at the
top of the group but moving down the group both ions are almost equal in size. When the size
of the ions are big, the attraction towards water molecules decreases and weakens and
eventually the solubility decreases moving down the group.
Based on Table 4.2, the solubility of Group II nitrates increases moving down the group
from magnesium to calcium but later decreases all the way. The size of the nitrate ions are
bigger than the metal ions and have large differences in size but moving down the group, the
differences in size decreases as he size of the metal ions increases. This causes the attraction
of water molecules to decrease and weaken and eventually decrease the solubility moving down
the group.
Based on Table 4.2, the solubility of Group II hydroxides increases down the group. This is
due to the large cations compared to the small hydroxide ion which causes them to have a large
difference in size. This large difference in size, leads to increase in attraction with water and
eventually the solubility increases.
Based on the Table 4.2, solubility of Group II carbonates decreases from magnesium to
strontium and increases from strontium to barium. The size of the carbonate ions, CO32- is
larger than the size of the metal cations. Going down Group 2, the size of the metal cation
increases, resulting in the decreasing difference in size between metal cations and carbonate
ions. This leads to the decreasing in attraction of the water molecules. Therefore, the solubility
of the Group II carbonates decreases down the group.
The solubilities given agrees with the finding of the experiment. The solubilities of the salts
with singly-charged anions are higher than the solubilities of the salts with double-charged
anions.
In this experiment, it was also observed that the hydroxide of a magnesium is considered
partially soluble or insoluble because it had a slight precipitate after addition of one drop of
hydroxide. The sulphate, sulphite and carbonate of magnesium were observed to be soluble.
As for calcium, its hydroxide, sulphite and carbonate were considered partially soluble or
insoluble with 6 drops of hydroxide, 8 drops of sulphite and 9 drops of carbonate with slight
precipitate for all the three. However, its sulphate was observed to be soluble. For strontium,
the hydroxide was soluble and the sulphite was insoluble giving a heavy precipitate with the
addition of one drop of sulphite. Whereas, 5 drops of sulphate and 6 drops of carbonate was
added to see a slight precipitate making it considerable as partially soluble or insoluble. For
barium, the hydroxide was soluble and the carbonate can be considered partially soluble or
insoluble because it only gave a slight precipitate with the addition of 3 drops of carbonate.
The sulphate and sulphite of the barium was observed to be insoluble giving a heavy precipitate
upon the addition of 1 drop of both sulphate and sulphite.

Conclusion:
The solubility of hydroxides increases moving down Group II whereas the solubility of
sulphate, sulphite and carbonate decreases moving down Group II.

References
1. Kessel, Hans Van and Frank Jenkins , 2002. Nelson Chemistry 12. 12th ed. s.l.:Nelson
Education Limited.
2. Tan, 2013. Ace AHead STPM Text Chemistry Second Term. In: Selangor Darul Ehsan:
Oxford Fajar.
3. Yip, 2013. Pre-U STPM Text Chemistry Term 2. In: Selangor Darul Ehsan: Pelangi.

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