Question

Addition of silver nitrate to sodium chloride solution causes precipitation of silver chloride. This is an example of _________ reaction.

Answer 1

Hint: Chlorine replaces nitrate from the solution of silver nitrate to form silver chloride and nitrate replaces chlorine from the solution of sodium chloride to form sodium nitrate. Double displacement takes place in the process.

Complete step by step answer:
Precipitation reaction is a reaction in which two different soluble salts which are in aqueous solutions combine to form products, out of which one is called precipitate which is an insoluble salt. Precipitation reaction is a double displacement reaction involving the production of a solid form residue called the precipitate. The reaction also occurs when two or more solutions with different salts are combined, resulting in the formation of insoluble salts that precipitates out of the solution.
In the above reaction, a white precipitate of silver chloride is formed (AgCl) which is a solid. This solid silver chloride is insoluble in water. Precipitation reactions help in determining the presence of different ions present in a particular solution. The reaction taking place is:
\[AgN{O_{3(aq)}} + NaC{l_{(aq)}} \to AgC{l_{(s)}} \downarrow + NaN{O_{3(aq)}}\]

Hence, the correct answer is double displacement or precipitation.

Additional information:
Some properties of precipitation reaction are:
The precipitation reaction undergoes in aqueous medium.
Precipitation reactions are ionic reactions since the ions actively take part in the reaction and form the product.
These reactions majorly depend on the temperature, concentration of the solution, buffer solution, etc.

Note: Remember that precipitation reactions are a subclass of double displacement reactions. The formation of a precipitate is the driving force of the reaction.