Question

A white substance having a strong smell of chlorine is used to clean a water storage tank. Identify the substance. Give its chemical name and write the chemical reactions for its preparation.

Answer 1

1. Bleaching powder

Bleaching powder is a chemical compound with the chemical name, Calcium oxychloride $\left({\mathrm{CaOCl}}_2\right)$. It is a white substance having a very strong smell of chlorine.

2. Preparation of Bleaching powder

It is prepared by the reaction of slaked lime with chlorine gas. The reaction for its preparation is given below.

$$\begin{gathered} \mathrm{Ca}{\left(\mathrm{OH}\right)}_2\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)+{\mathrm{Cl}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)\to {\mathrm{CaOCl}}_2\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)+{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{l}\right) \\ (\mathrm{Slaked}\mathrm{lime})\left(\mathrm{Chlorine}\right)(\mathrm{Bleaching}(\mathrm{Water}) \\ \mathrm{powder}) \end{gathered}$$

Thus, the substance used for cleaning the water storage tank is bleaching powder. Its chemical name is Calcium oxychloride.