Precipitation Reactions

Learning Objectives

  • Precipitation reactions represented by balanced full and ionic equations, including states

Summary Notes

Insoluble compounds

Not all ionic compounds are soluble in water.

A precipitation reaction refers to the formation of an insoluble salt when two solutions containing soluble salts are combined.

The insoluble salt that “falls out” of solution is known as the precipitate.

Precipitation reaction

There are various methods that can be used to determine the solubility of an ionic compound. Some of them include:

  1. Solubility charts

  2. Solubility table (simplification of #1)

  3. SNAPE CHOPS rule (see below)

See Teacher's Tips for information

Precipitation reactions

A reaction that produces an insoluble precipitate when two aqueous solutions are mixed together.

Precipitation reactions are a type of double displacement reaction.

Videos to help build your understanding

Precipitation Reactions in Action

Writing and Balancing Precipitation and Net Ionic Equations

How to Write Net Ionic Equations

Practice Material

Double Displacement Reactions Worksheet and Solution

Writing Precipitation Reactions Worksheet and Solution

Writing Ionic Equations Practice

Precipitation Reaction Simulation

Teacher's Tips:

Solubility tables and charts are not provided on the VCE data booklet. The easiest method of identification is by using the SNAPE CHOPS rule and including information about the halides

Net ionic equations = Ionic equations. Teachers often differentiate between these when first teaching the concept to you but beyond the classroom, they are used interchangeably

When writing net ionic equations, only choose the ions that have undergone changes in charge or states