{"id":260873,"date":"2025-07-19T17:21:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T17:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=260873"},"modified":"2025-07-19T17:21:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T17:21:31","slug":"what-reagent-would-distinguish-between-ba2-and-pb2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/19\/what-reagent-would-distinguish-between-ba2-and-pb2\/","title":{"rendered":"What reagent would distinguish between Ba2+ and Pb2+"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What reagent would distinguish between Ba2+ and Pb2+? A) KCl B) Li2S2O3 C) K2SO4 D) LiNO3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correct answer is C) K2SO4 (Potassium sulfate)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ba\u00b2\u207a and Pb\u00b2\u207a are both divalent cations, and they belong to the same group in the periodic table, but they exhibit different solubility properties when reacting with certain anions. The key reagent here, K2SO4<\/strong>, plays an important role in distinguishing between these two ions due to their differing reactions with sulfate ions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Ba\u00b2\u207a (Barium ion)<\/strong> reacts with sulfate ions to form BaSO4 (Barium sulfate)<\/strong>, which is a very insoluble<\/strong> white precipitate. This low solubility is a distinctive feature of Ba\u00b2\u207a in the presence of sulfate ions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Pb\u00b2\u207a (Lead(II) ion)<\/strong>, on the other hand, forms PbSO4 (Lead(II) sulfate)<\/strong>, which is also insoluble but to a lesser degree than BaSO4. However, PbSO4 is still slightly soluble in water and can be dissolved by excess potassium sulfate in some cases, especially in the presence of certain complexing agents.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    So, when K2SO4<\/strong> is added to a solution containing both Ba\u00b2\u207a and Pb\u00b2\u207a, Ba\u00b2\u207a will immediately form a white precipitate of BaSO4<\/strong>, while Pb\u00b2\u207a will either form a very slight precipitate or remain in solution, depending on conditions. This allows you to distinguish between Ba\u00b2\u207a and Pb\u00b2\u207a<\/strong> based on the formation (or lack thereof) of the BaSO4 precipitate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why other reagents don’t work:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • A) KCl<\/strong>: Both Ba\u00b2\u207a and Pb\u00b2\u207a would form chloride salts, and both are soluble in water, so KCl wouldn\u2019t distinguish them.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • B) Li2S2O3<\/strong>: Neither Pb\u00b2\u207a nor Ba\u00b2\u207a reacts distinctly with thiosulfate ions to form different precipitates or complexes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • D) LiNO3<\/strong>: Both Ba\u00b2\u207a and Pb\u00b2\u207a form soluble nitrates with lithium, so no precipitation occurs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Therefore, K2SO4<\/strong> is the best reagent for distinguishing between Ba\u00b2\u207a and Pb\u00b2\u207a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      What reagent would distinguish between Ba2+ and Pb2+? A) KCl B) Li2S2O3 C) K2SO4 D) LiNO3 The Correct Answer and Explanation is: The correct answer is C) K2SO4 (Potassium sulfate). Explanation: Ba\u00b2\u207a and Pb\u00b2\u207a are both divalent cations, and they belong to the same group in the periodic table, but they exhibit different solubility properties […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}