I yawn when I think about ion
But fear and yawn no more. Watch the interactive video to see what happens to ions when:
- We dissolve a soluble ionic compound in water
- We mix two solutions of dissolved ionic compounds to form an insoluble ionic compound, which is a reaction called precipitation
Afterthoughts: so what exactly is precipitation?
Like how rain crashes out from the sky, we call it precipitation when a solid insoluble ionic compound crashes out of a mixture of two soluble salts dissolved in water. Let’s define precipitation formally:
Precipitation is a reaction whereby two soluble ionic compounds react to form an insoluble product as a precipitate.