Answer to Question #78114 in Inorganic Chemistry for TIJANI ABDULHAMEED

Question

1. Is the product formed from the reaction between iron iii chloride and water a solution or a precipitate.

Answer 1

The balanced equation for the reaction is

FeCl3 + 3H2O ↔ Fe(OH)3↓ + 3H2O.

Since iron(III) chloride is soluble in water, but not iron(III) hydroxide, the reaction causes a solid to be precipitated. As iron(III) hydroxide is brown, a brown precipitate is formed. Hence, this is known as a precipitation reaction.

The hy­drol­y­sis re­ac­tion of iron(III) chlo­ride takes place re­versibly.