You salts, in general, has a great importance in people's daily lives, directly or indirectly. In many products we use at home we have the presence of these substances that belong to Chemistry inorganic, or are even related to the production or care of other materials to which we have access.
The treated water we consume at home is an example, it goes through stages during its treatment, and in one of these stages a salt is used. The salt used for this purpose is aluminum sulphate, its chemical formula is represented by Al2(ONLY4)3, being the SO group4 called sulfate and Al the symbol of the element aluminum.
As it is a salt, the Aluminum sulfate has several characteristics that the other representatives of this inorganic group also have, such as:
is ionic
suffer dissociation in water
is solid at room temperature
has salty flavor
Its particular features are:
it's white
it is soluble in water, and its solubility is 870 g/L
has a melting point of 770 OÇ
has boiling point: not applicable,
its density is 2.672 g/ml
When in contact with water it dissolves and undergoes the process of dissociation, represented by the following equation:
Al2(ONLY4)3 → 2 Al+3(here) + 3 SO4-2(here)
The production of this salt involves chemical processes, that is, its manufacture depends on phenomena (chemical reactions) specific chemicals. Two examples of obtaining methods are:
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Neutralization reaction
Reaction in which an acid reacts with a base to form a salt and water. This is when aluminum hydroxide reacts with sulfuric acid, forming aluminum sulfate and also water. The equation that represents the process is:
3 hours2ONLY4 + 2 Al(OH)3 → Al2(ONLY4)3 + 6 H2O
Simple exchange reaction
A reaction in which a simple substance reacts with a compound substance. To do this, we put sulfuric acid in the presence of metallic aluminum and we have the formation of aluminum sulphate and hydrogen gas.
3 hours2ONLY4 + 2 Al(s)→ Al2(ONLY4)3 + 6 H2(g)
The importance of knowing this salt is due to the fact that it is widely used in the flocculation process of drinking water treatment. It has the characteristic of adhering to solid impurities in suspension present in the water, making the decanting process easier and more efficient.
Place of use of aluminum sulphate in homes
your use domestic is done by some people, mainly to treat pool water, but its use should be avoided at home by changing the pH of water and the fact that this salt can cause:
skin irritation
mucosal irritation
if inhaled, it can burn the airways
if ingested, it can burn the esophagus, stomach, etc.
By Me. Diogo Lopes Dias
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
DAYS, Diogo Lopes. "Aluminum sulfate"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/quimica/sulfato-aluminio.htm. Accessed on June 28, 2021.
Ionic compounds, main characteristics of ionic compounds, bonding between ions, definitive transfer of electrons, electrostatic attraction forces between ions, negative and positive ions, anions, cations, ionic bonding, molecular structure he
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