Acid Reactions & Salts
Describe and write word equations for the reactions of acids with metals, alkalis (neutralisation), and metal oxides/hydroxides, identifying the salt produced in each case
What a learner can do afterwards
- Writes word equations for: acid + metal → salt + hydrogen; acid + alkali → salt + water; acid + metal oxide → salt + water
- Names the salt formed from a given acid and base (e.g. hydrochloric acid + sodium hydroxide → sodium chloride)
- Describes the test for hydrogen gas (squeaky pop)
- Explains what neutralisation means and gives a practical example (indigestion tablets, treating acidic soil)
The lesson
You already know acids, alkalis, and pH, and that a chemical reaction makes new substances. When an acid reacts with a metal, an alkali, or a metal oxide, it always makes a new substance called a salt.
Magnesium reacts with hydrochloric acid: hydrochloric acid + magnesium → magnesium chloride + hydrogen. Bubbles of gas form. Hold a lit splint near the gas and it burns with a squeaky pop, which tells you the gas is hydrogen.
A salt's name has two parts: the metal first, then a part from the acid. Hydrochloric acid gives 'chloride' salts, sulfuric acid gives 'sulfate' salts, and nitric acid gives 'nitrate' salts. A metal oxide reacts with acid the same way an alkali does: salt + water, never hydrogen.
Acid + metal makes salt + hydrogen, but acid + alkali or acid + metal oxide makes salt + water through neutralisation.
Watch it
Where it sits
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Where this leads
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8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.