Question

A sanitary worker uses a white chemical having a strong smell of chlorine gas to disinfect the water tank.
(i) Identify the chemical compound
(ii) Write its chemical formula
(iii) Write a chemical equation for preparing it.

Answer 1

Hint: It is a chemical compound and we often use it in households for cleaning purposes. Its main chemical ingredient is calcium hypochlorite. We also know it by the name ‘chlorine powder’. You can use this to answer the given question.

Complete step by step solution:
The white chemical having a strong smell of chlorine gas that is used to disinfect water tank is bleaching powder.
Now let us answer the given question step-wise.
(i) The chemical compound is bleaching powder.
(ii) Bleaching powder is the chemical compound with the formula $CaOC{{l}_{2}}$. Its structural formula shows the presence of $C{{a}^{2+}}$ and $2OC{{l}^{-}}$ ions. We can represent its ions as-

(iii) Bleaching powder contains calcium hydroxide, calcium chloride, and calcium hypochlorite which is blended and reduced to powder. It is prepared by the action of chlorine on slaked lime.
The following is the reaction of preparation of bleaching powder:
$2C{{l}_{2}}+2Ca{{\left( OH \right)}_{2}}\to Ca{{\left( OCl \right)}_{2}}+CaC{{l}_{2}}+2{{H}_{2}}O$
Bleaching powder is a pale yellowish powder existing with a strong smell of chlorine.
It is soluble in water but due to the presence of impurities, we never observe a clear solution.
It is commonly known as bleaching powder but its main ingredient is calcium hypochlorite so it is also referred to by its chemical name.
Calcium hypochlorite is stored dry and cold, away from any acid, organic materials, and metals. The hydrated form is safer to handle. If mixed with an acid it releases highly toxic chlorine gas.
We can understand the required answer from the above discussion.

Note: Besides being used as disinfectant which is used for disinfecting water tanks, we can write other uses of bleaching powder as-
It is used for bleaching dirty clothes in the laundry.
It is a strong oxidizing agent hence used as an oxidizer in many industries.