Question

Why do we store silver chloride in dark-colored bottles? Explain in brief.

Answer 1

Silver chloride i.e. AgCl is sensitive to sunlight. When AgCl comes in contact with sunlight, it decomposes into silver$\mathbf{\left(}\mathbf{Ag}\mathbf{\right)}$ which is grey in color, and chlorine$\mathbf{\left(}{\mathbf{Cl}}_{\mathbf{2}}\mathbf{\right)}$ under the reaction as given below :

$\mathbf{2}\mathbf{AgCl}\mathbf{\left(}\mathbf{s}\mathbf{\right)}\mathbf{}\stackrel{\mathbf{sunlight}\mathbf{}}{\mathbf{\to }}\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{}\mathbf{2}\mathbf{Ag}\mathbf{\left(}\mathbf{s}\mathbf{\right)}\mathbf{}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{}{\mathbf{Cl}}_{\mathbf{2}}\mathbf{\left(}\mathbf{g}\mathbf{\right)}$

Thus, in order to cease the decomposition, we store AgCl i.e. silver chloride in dark bottles so that sunlight may not fall on it.