Chemical Synthesis

In the first reaction, magnesium was burned to produce magnesium oxide. The reaction produced a bright light, which is evidence of a chemical change. The second reaction occurred as a result of solid magnesium reacting with hydrochloric acid. The reaction produced heat and bubbles, both indications of a chemical change. A wood splint was used to determine that the gas produced was hydrogen gas, hence the other product is magnesium dichloride. In the third reaction, ammonium carbonate was heated to decompose into two gases, due to the absence of anything solid or liquid following the reaction. A wood splint was used to determine that carbon dioxide was present, since the lit splint was extinguished when put in the test tube. Therefore, the other product is ammonium oxide. The fourth reaction occurred between calcium carbonate and hydrochloric acid. When mixed, the two reactants produced a clear aqueous solution, calcium chloride, water, and a gas. The gas was concluded to be carbon dioxide, since the wood splint was extinguished after it was exposed to the gas in the test tube. In the fifth reaction, the two reactants, copper(II) chloride and zinc produced a permanent color change in the solid substance in the aqueous solution. The remaining solid appeared to be black reddish and concluded to be copper, where the aqueous solution is zinc chloride. The six reaction resulted in the formation of a precipitate in an aqueous solution. Copper(II) chloride reacted with sodium phosphate to produce a fluffy blue solid, copper(II)
phosphate, and sodium chloride. In the seventh reaction, two aqueous solutions, sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid produced sodium chloride and water. Sodium chloride dissolved in the water to create a solution of salt water. In the eighth reaction, hydrogen peroxide decomposed to produce liquid water and oxygen gas. Bubbles were observed as a result of the reaction and the lit splint test appeared to glow, suggesting the formation of oxygen in the reaction. The final reaction (ninth) resulted in the formation of a fuzzy dark solid attaching to the copper wire. The copper wire reacted with silver nitrate to produce copper nitrate and silver. Net ionic equations are helpful in order to isolate the active reactants that produce the insoluble products in double replacement reactions.
Reaction six is an example of a double replacement, hence a net ionic equation is formed. The net ionic equation for this specific reaction involves only copper and phosphate, whereas the original equations utilized also sodium and chlorine. Hence, the solid product in reaction six is copper(II)
phosphate. Many of the reactions that occurred were oxidized, meaning that they contain oxygen. However, this can result to errors because of the abundance of oxygen in the air. So when testing for the presence of oxygen with a wood splint, the oxygen in the air could make it glow rather than the oxygen produced from the reaction. This could henceforth lead to an inaccurate equation for the reaction.