Everything about Silver Chloride totally explained
| Section2 =
| Section3 =
| Section4 =
| Section5 =
| Section6 =
| Section7 =
| Section8 =
}}
Silver chloride is a
chemical compound with the
chemical formula AgCl. This white
crystalline solid is well known for its low
solubility in
water (this behavior being reminiscent of the chlorides of Tl
+ and Pb
2+). Upon illumination or heating, silver chloride converts to silver (and chlorine), which is signalled by greyish or purplish coloration to some samples. AgCl occurs naturally as a mineral
chlorargyrite.
Coordination chemistry
The solid adopts the
fcc NaCl structure, in which each Ag
+ ion is surrounded by an
octahedron of six chloride ligands. AgF and AgBr crystallize similarly. However, the crystallography depends on the condition of crystallization, primarily free silver ion concentration. AgCl dissolves in solutions containing
ligands such as chloride,
cyanide,
triphenylphosphine,
thiosulfate,
thiocyanate and
ammonia. Silver chloride reacts with these ligands according to the following illustrative equations:
» AgCl(s) + Cl
–(concentrated, aqueous) → AgCl
2-(aq)
AgCl(s) + 2S
2O
32–(aq) → Ag[(S
2O
3)
2]
3-(aq) + Cl
-(aq)
» AgCl(s) + 2NH
3(aq) → Ag[(NH
3)
2]
+(aq) + Cl
-(aq)
Most complexes derived from AgCl are two-, three-, and, in rare cases, four-coordinate, adopting linear, trigonal planar, and tetrahedral coordination geometries, respectively.
In one of the most famous reactions in chemistry, addition of colorless aqueous
silver nitrate to an equally colorless solution of sodium chloride produces an opaque white precipitate of AgCl:
» Ag
+(
aq) + Cl
-(aq) → AgCl(
s)
This conversion is a common test for the presence of
chloride in solution. The
solubility product, K
sp, for AgCl is 1.8 x 10
-10, which indicates that one liter of water will dissolve 0.000013 grams of AgCl. The chloride content of an aqueous solution can be determined quantitatively by weighing the precipitated AgCl, which conveniently is non-hygroscopic, since AgCl is one of the few transition metal chlorides that's unreactive toward water. Ions that interfere with this test are bromide and iodide, as well as a variety of ligands (see
silver halide). For AgBr and AgI, the K
sp values are 5.2 x 10
-13 and 8.3 x 10
-17, respectively. The
silver bromide (slightly yellowish white) and
silver iodide (pale yellow) are also significantly more photosensitive than is AgCl.
Applications
- Silver chloride is used to make photographic paper since it reacts with photons to form latent image and via photoreduction.
- The Silver Chloride Electrode is a common reference electrode in electrochemistry.
- Silver chloride's low solubility makes it a useful addition to pottery glazes for the production of "Inglaze lustre".
- Silver chloride has been used as an antidote for mercury poisoning, assisting in the elimination of mercury.
- Silver chloride is often used in photochromic lenses, again taking advantage of its reversible conversion to Ag metal.
- Silver chloride is used to create yellow, amber, and brown shades in stained glass manufacture.
- Silver chloride is used in bandages and wound healing products.
Footnotes
Further Information
Get more info on 'Silver Chloride'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://silver_chloride.totallyexplained.com">Silver chloride Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
