Heating Effect on Carbonate Salts
- All carbonates salts except potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate can be decomposed by heat to produce carbon dioxide gas.
- Table below shows the effect of heating on metal carbonate.
Carbonate Salt | Equation of The Reaction |
Potassium carbonate Sodium carbonate | Will not decompose by heat |
Calcium carbonate Magnesium carbonate Aluminium carbonate Zinc carbonate Iron (III) carbonate Lead(II) carbonate Copper(II) carbonate | Calcium carbonate CaCO3 → CaO + CO2 Aluminium carbonate Al2(CO3)3 → Al2O3 + 3CO2 Copper carbonateCuCO3 → CuO + CO2 |
Mercury(II) carbonate Silver carbonate Aurum(II) carbonate | Silver carbonate 2Ag2CO3 → 2Ag + 2CO2 + O2 |
Ammonium carbonate | (NH4)2CO3 → 2NH3 + 2CO2 + H2O |
Heating Effect on Nitrate Salts
- All nitrates salts decompose when heated.
- Table below shows the products formed when different nitrate salts are heated.
Nitrate Salt | Equation of The Reaction |
Ammonium nitrate | Ammonium nitrate decompose to nitrogen monoxide and water vapour when heated. NH4NO3 → N2O + 2H2O |
Potassium nitrate Sodium nitrate | Potassium nitrate 2KNO3 → 2KNO2 + O2 Sodium nitrate2NaNO3 → 2NaNO2 + O2 |
Calcium nitrate Magnesium nitrate Aluminium nitrate Zink nitrate Iron (III) nitrate Lead(II) nitrate Copper(II) nitrate | Magnesium nitrate 2Mg(NO3)2 → 2MgO + 4NO2 + O2 Iron(III) nitrate4Fe(NO3)3 → 2Fe2O3 + 12NO2 + 3O2 Lead(II) nitrate2Pb(NO3)2 → 2PbO + 4NO2 + O2 |
Mercury(II) nitrate Silver(I) nitrate Aurum(II) nitrate | Silver nitrate 2AgNO3 → 2Ag + 2NO2 + O2 |
Heating Effect on Sulphate Salts
- Most sulphate salts do not decompose by heat. For instance, sodium sulphate, potassium sulphate, and calcium sulphate are not decomposable by heat.
- Only certain sulphate salts are decomposed by heat when heated strongly.
- For instance:
- Strong heating of green crystal iron (II) sulphate will release steam, sulphur dioxide, sulphur trioxide and leave behind a reddish solid iron (III) oxide residue. The steam released comes from the hydrated water of the crystallize salt.2FeSO4•7H2O → Fe2O3(p) + SO2(g) + SO3(g) + 14H2O(g)
- Meanwhile, zinc sulphate, copper (II) sulphate, and iron (III) sulphate decompose when heated strongly to evolve sulphur trioxide gas and form a metal oxide.
Example
Zinc sulphateZnSO4 → ZnO + SO3
Copper (II) sulphateCuSO4 → CuO + SO3
Iron (III) sulphateFe2(SO4)3→ Fe2O3 + 3SO3 - When ammonium sulphate is heated strongly, this white solid sublimate and is decomposed to form ammonia gas and sulphuric acid. vapour
(NH4)2SO4 → NH3 + H2SO4
Heating Effect on Chloride Salts
- All chloride salts are not decomposable by heat except ammonium chloride.
- Ammonium chloride sublimes and decompose to produce ammonia gas and hydrogen chliride gas.
For instance:NH4Cl → NH3 + HCl