Types of Chemical Reactions

VOCABULARY flashcards covering the classification and characteristics of different types of chemical reactions, including specific examples and the reactivity series.

Decomposition

A chemical reaction where a single reactant forms two or more simpler products.

Thermal decomposition

A specific type of decomposition reaction where reactants only break down when they are heated.

Combination

A reaction type, also known as synthesis or composition, that occurs when two reactants combine to form a single product.

Neutralisation

A reaction that occurs when an acid reacts with a base to produce a neutral solution of a salt and water.

Salt

A metal compound produced from an acid when some or all of the hydrogen in the acid is replaced by a metal.

Naming Salts

A convention where a salt takes its first name from the metal and its second name from the acid used in the reaction.

Displacement reactions

Chemical reactions that occur between ionic substances involving the exchange of cations or anions.

Single displacement

A reaction where a cation or an anion is exchanged from a compound, represented by the formula $AB + C \rightarrow A + BC$.

Reactivity series of metals

A ranking used by chemists to determine metal reactivity; a single displacement reaction only occurs if the pure metal is more reactive than the metal in the solution.

Double displacement

A reaction involving the exchange of ions between two reactants to form two new compounds, represented by the formula $AB + CD \rightarrow AD + CB$.

Precipitation reaction

A specific type of double displacement reaction between two solutions that forms a solid product.

Precipitate

The solid substance that settles out of solution during a precipitation reaction, indicated in chemical equations with the state symbol $(s)$.

Golden rain reaction

A double displacement reaction involving lead nitrate and potassium iodide according to the equation: $Pb(NO_3)_2(aq) + 2KI(aq) \rightarrow PbI_2(s) + 2KNO_3(aq)$.

Combustion reactions

Reactions in which a fuel burns in oxygen to produce light and heat; examples include hydrogen gas combustion: $2H_2(g) + O_2(g) \rightarrow 2H_2O(g)$.

Exothermic reactions

A classification for reactions that release energy in the form of light and heat, which includes all combustion reactions.