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What does the formation of a precipitate indicate?

1 Answer

Feb 9, 2017

Well, it indicates that a chemical reaction has taken place.

Explanation:

And we can illustrate the formation of a precipitate by a stoichiometrically balanced equation:

$A g N O_{3} (a q) + N a C l (a q) \to A g C l (s) ⏐ ↓ + N a N O_{3} (a q)$ $AgNO_3(aq) + NaCl(aq) rarr AgCl(s)darr + NaNO_3(aq)$

And because the nitrate and sodium ions are along for the ride, we could write a net ionic equation:

$A g^{+} + C l^{-} \to A g C l (s) ⏐ ↓$ $Ag^(+) + Cl^(-) rarr AgCl(s)darr$

Bonds are broken, and bonds are formed in a new substance, and thus chemical change has manifestly occurred.

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