Precipitate reactions are like watching a snow globe, but the snow appears out of nowhere.
For example, you can combine two liquid solutions that are totally clear and when you put them together, they each break apart into ions and then recombine in a way that looks like white snow in your test tube. Basically precipitate reactions make it possible to see the ions in a solution because they form a salt that’s not soluble – it doesn‘t dissolve in the solution. You can also get different colors of the precipitate snow, depending on which reactants you start out with. If you were to use potassium bromide (KBr) with silver nitrate, you’d find a yellowish snowstorm of silver bromide (AgBr).
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The electrolytes lesson is listed twice in this unit. Should we do the “Hot Liquids and Cool solids” instead for a precipitation experiement?