Discussion

3 M NaCl:

The cation solutions used throughout the entire experiment were barium nitrate, copper nitrate, ferric nitrate, lead (ii) nitrate, manganese nitrate, nickel nitrate, silver nitrate, and aluminum nitrate, each of which were an aqueous solution with a concentration of 0.2 M. Eight bottles each containing a specific cation were obtained, along with eight test tubes and an aqueous, 3.0 M solution of Sodium Chloride (NaCl).

A few drops of each cation were placed into their own test tube, along with five drops of NaCl, and observations were recorded. Barium nitrate, copper nitrate, manganese nitrate, nickel nitrate, ferric nitrate, and aluminum nitrate did not react to the 3.0 M NaCl solution. However, when the NaCl was added to each test tube, lead (ii) nitrate reacted to create a solid white precipitate that completely separated from the solution, and silver nitrate reacted to create a milky white solution. The net ionic equations of these chemical reactions go in order as follows:

The same experiment was run, except instead of NaCl being added to each test tube containing a specific cation, five drops of an aqueous solution of 6 M Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) were added to each test tube. Only lead (ii) nitrate and silver nitrate reacted with the 6 M HCl, each of which produced a white solid precipitate. The net ionic equations for these chemical reactions go in order as follows:

Evidently, both lead (ii) nitrate and silver nitrate react similarly to the chloride ion  found within both NaCl and HCl to create lead (ii) chloride and silver chloride.

Table 1a. Summary of what happened after 5 drops of 3 M NaCl were added to each cation solution.

Table 2a. Summary of what happened after 5 drops of 6 M HCl were added to each cation solution.

However, when the precipitates formed using NaCl were submerged in a hot bath and exposed to heat, the silver chloride melted into a clear solution, while the lead (ii) chloride did not. After that, a few drops of an aqueous solution of 6 M Nitric Acid ( were added to each solution, resulting in the silver chloride returning as a milky white precipitate, while the lead (ii) chloride did not react.

Table 1b. Summary of what happened after Silver and Lead (ii) were exposed to heat and 6 M HNO₃.

When the precipitates created using HCl were exposed to heat, the lead (ii) chloride did not dissolve, while the silver chloride separated from the HCl to form a solid form of silver nitrate.

Table 2b. Summary of what happened after Silver and Lead (ii) were exposed to heat and 6 M HCl.