Chapter 6, Problem 42E

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

An equation to show the dehydration of potassium fluoride dihydrate is to be written.

Concept introduction:

Few chemical compounds on crystallization from water solution produce crystals that contain water molecules as a part of their crystal structure. These water molecules of the crystals are called as water of crystallization or water of hydration. The crystal that results from the process of crystallization is referred as hydrate. Conversely, the water molecules can be driven away from the crystals by applying heat energy to afford anhydrous chemical compounds. The well-known example of a compound having water crystallization is CuSO₄.5H₂O. The anhydrous chemical compound CuSO₄ (colorless) is combined with 5 H₂O molecules on crystallization from a water solution result in hydrated CuSO₄.5H₂O (blue). The name of this chemical compound is denoted as copper (II) sulphate penta hydrate. In this case, the prefix ‘penta’ is usually referred as the presence of 5 molecules (water).