Question

Give a chemical test to distinguish between the following pairs of chemicals.
(i) Lead nitrate solution and Zinc nitrate solution.
(ii) Sodium chloride solution and Sodium nitrate solution.

Answer 1

(i) Addition of an excess of Ammonium hydroxide.

Lead nitrate results in insoluble white precipitate while zinc nitrate initially forms a white precipitate that soluble in excess of ammonium hydroxide solution.

(ii) Silver nitrate test. Silver nitrate gives a white precipitate with sodium chloride while sodium nitrate does not react.