Answer to Question #93696 in Inorganic Chemistry for Shane Ballera

Question

Salt is dissolved in water. What kind of process takes place into this? Physical or chemical?

Answer 1

Dissolving salt is chemical process.

When you dissolve salt in water the sodium chloride dissociates in Na+ ions and Cl- ions, which may be written as a chemical equation:

NaCl(s) → Na+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

Therefore, dissolving salt in water is an example of a chemical change. The reactant (sodium chloride or NaCl) is different from the products (sodium cation and chlorine anion). Thus, any ionic compound that is soluble in water would experience a chemical change. In contrast, dissolving a covalent compound like sugar does not result in a chemical reaction. When sugar is dissolved, the molecules disperse throughout the water, but they don't change their chemical identity.

References:

1.      ThoughtCo [Electronic resource]. - Mode of access: https://www.thoughtco.com/dissolving-salt-water-chemical-physical-change-608339. – Date of access: 06.09.2019.