Why are metallic compounds insoluble in water?

1 Answer
Meave60
Dec 4, 2015

Many metallic compounds are soluble in water as ionic compounds.

Explanation:

Metallic compounds are not pure metals. They are compounds that contain a metal and a nonmetal, which are generally ionic compounds. In an ionic compound, a metal forms an ionic bond with a nonmetal, such as sodium chloride, #"NaCl"#, which consists of the metal sodium and the nonmetal chlorine. A metallic compound can also consist of a metal bonded to a polyatomic ion, such as calcium carbonate, #"CaCO"_3"#, which consists of the metal calcium bonded to the polyatomic carbonate ion, #"CO"_3^(2-)"#.

Many metallic compounds are soluble in water. In order to determine this, you need a solubility table.

If you look up the previous two examples, #"NaCl"# and #"CaCO"_3"#, you will note that #"NaCl"# is soluble in water, whereas #"CaCO"_3"# is not since #"Ca"# is an alkaline earth metal, not an alkali metal.

http://www.wlps.org/WLHS/Class/132-ms-verissimo/3802-AP-Summer.html

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