The change involved in obtaining salt is a physical or chemical? Explain with reason.
Answers
Answer:
Dissolving salt in water does in fact cause a change in chemical structure - the crystalline structure of sodium and chlorine ions in a lattice changes to completely separate sodium ions and chloride ions, each fully solvated by water molecules.
Answer:
It is a chemical change.
When you dissolve salt in water, the sodium chloride dissociates in Na+ ions and Cl- ions, which may be written as a chemical equation:
NaCl(s) → Na+(aq) + Cl-(aq)
Therefore, dissolving salt in water is a chemical change. The reactant (sodium chloride, or NaCl) is different from the products (sodium cation and chlorine anion).
Thus, any ionic compound that is soluble in water would experience a chemical change. In contrast, dissolving a covalent compound like sugar does not result in a chemical reaction. When sugar is dissolved, the molecules disperse throughout the water, but they do not change their chemical identity.