This is a rather more complicated version of the bonding you might have come across in benzene or in ions like ethanoate. Mg(OH) 2 → MgO + H 2 O. Carbonates These are prepared by precipitation reactions with the solubility decreasing down the group. All group 2 nitrates and chlorides are soluble, but the solubility of the group 2 sulphates decreases down the group-Magnesium sulphate is classed as soluble-Calcium sulphate is classed as slightly soluble -Strontium and barium sulphate are insoluble A shorthand structure for the carbonate ion is given below: This structure two single carbon-oxygen bonds and one double bond, with two of the oxygen atoms each carrying a negative charge. In real carbonate ions all the bonds are identical, and the charges are distributed over the whole ion, with greater density concentrated on the oxygen atoms.In other words, the charges are delocalized. For reasons we will look at shortly, the lattice enthalpies of both the oxides and carbonates fall as you go down the Group. The general fall is because hydration enthalpies are falling faster than lattice enthalpies. For example, for magnesium oxide, it is the heat needed to carry out 1 mole of this change: The cycle we are interested in looks like this: You can apply Hess's Law to this, and find two routes which will have an equal enthalpy change because they start and end in the same places. Water solubilities of group 2 nitrates at 0C in g/100gH2O are: Be (NO3)2 "very soluble," Mg (NO3)2 223, Ca (NO3)2 266, Sr (NO3)2 40, Ba (NO3)2 5. The nitrates are white solids, and the oxides produced are also white solids. The reactions are more endothermic down the group, as expected, because the carbonates become more thermally stable, as discussed above. The nitrates also become more stable to heat as you go down the Group. This page offers two different ways of looking at the problem. In my lab report, we are required to explain the trends in solubility of group 2 salts, going down the group. In the carbonates, the inter-ionic distance is dominated by the much larger carbonate ion. If the carbonate is heated the carbon dioxide breaks free, leaving the metal oxide. The Group 2 nitrates undergo thermal decomposition to the metal oxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxygen gas. Lattice enthalpy is the heat needed to split one mole of crystal in its standard state into its separate gaseous ions. All the nitrates in this Group undergo thermal decomposition to give the metal oxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxygen. You would observe brown gas evolving (NO2) and the White nitrate solid is seen to melt to a colourless solution and then resolidify 2Mg(NO3)2→ 2MgO + 4NO2+ O2 The table below provides information on the variation of solubility of different substances (mostly inorganic compounds) in water with temperature, at one atmosphere pressure.Units of solubility are given in grams per 100 millilitres of water (g/100 ml), unless shown otherwise. The inter-ionic distances in the two cases we are talking about would increase from 0.365 nm to 0.399 nm - an increase of only about 9%. The shading is intended to show that there is a greater electron density around the oxygen atoms than near the carbon. As the positive ions get larger down the group, they affect on the carbonate ions near them less. Includes trends in atomic and physical properties, trends in reactivity, the solubility patterns in the hydroxides and sulfates, trends in the thermal decomposition of the nitrates and carbonates, and some of the atypical properties of beryllium. Magnesium and calcium nitrates normally crystallize with water, and the solid may dissolve in its own water of crystallization to make a colorless solution before it starts to decompose. Covers the elements beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr) and barium (Ba). On that basis, the oxide lattice enthalpies are bound to fall faster than those of the carbonates. The bottom the degree to which the ion is bigger than an oxide ion, and SrSO 4 undergo! Bigger 2+ ion has a lot of charge packed into a small volume of space rather more complicated of! Heat on the Group, the lattice enthalpies of both the oxides carbonates! 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