Question

The reaction between solutions of silver nitrate and sodium chloride is a precipitation reaction. Explain.

Answer 1

A chemical reaction in which two reactants exchange their ions to form two new compounds is called a double displacement reaction.

When the solutions of silver nitrate and sodium chloride react, a white precipitate of silver chloride is produced along with sodium nitrate. This is a double displacement reaction.

$$\begin{gathered} {\mathrm{AgNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)+\mathrm{NaCl}\left(\mathrm{aq}\right)\to \mathrm{AgCl}\left(\mathrm{s}\right)+{\mathrm{NaNO}}_3\left(\mathrm{aq}\right) \\ \mathrm{Silver}\mathrm{nitrate}\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{chloride}\mathrm{Silver}\mathrm{chloride}\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{nitrate} \end{gathered}$$