Salt families
Salts that share an ion belong to the same family.
Cousins in the lab
NaCl (common salt) and Na₂SO₄ both have Na⁺. NaCl and KCl both have Cl⁻.
What could make two salts belong to the same family?
What this lesson covers
The idea
Salts having the same positive or negative radicals belong to the same family of salts.
Cousins in the lab
NaCl (common salt) and Na₂SO₄ both have Na⁺. NaCl and KCl both have Cl⁻.
What could make two salts belong to the same family?
- They share the same positive ion or the same negative ion
- They have the same colour
- They are found in the same place
Find the families
Tap salts in the grid. Each one lights up two families: its row and its column. Then do the tasks.
Share an ion, share a family
Salts having the same positive or same negative radicals belong to a family. NaCl and Na₂SO₄ belong to the family of sodium salts. NaCl and KCl belong to the family of chloride salts.
A salt belongs to two families at once: one for its positive ion and one for its negative ion.
- Family | Shared ion | Members
- Sodium salts | Na⁺ | NaCl, Na₂SO₄, NaNO₃
- Chloride salts | Cl⁻ | NaCl, KCl, CaCl₂
Notes
Salts having the same positive or negative radicals belong to the same family of salts.
Check yourself
NaCl and Na₂SO₄ belong to the family of …
NaCl and KCl belong to the family of …
Which pair belongs to the family of sulphate salts?
KNO₃ belongs to which two families?
- sodium salts — correct. Yes! Both have Na⁺.
- chloride salts. Na₂SO₄ has no chloride.
- potassium salts. Neither has potassium.
- sodium salts. KCl has no sodium.
- chloride salts — correct. Yes! Both have Cl⁻.
- sulphate salts. Neither has sulphate.
- NaCl and KCl. These are chloride salts.
- KNO₃ and NaNO₃. These are nitrate salts.
- Na₂SO₄ and CaSO₄ — correct. Yes! Both have SO₄²⁻.
- potassium salts and nitrate salts — correct. Yes! It has K⁺ and NO₃⁻.
- sodium salts and chloride salts. KNO₃ has neither Na⁺ nor Cl⁻.
- only potassium salts. It also has the nitrate ion, so it is a nitrate salt too.