SALTS
Name of Salts Uses
Sodium Chloride or Common Salt
(NaCl)
1. Used in cooking food as well as for cooking gas.
2. Used as a preservative in pickles and in curing meat and
fish.
3. Used in the manufacture of soap.
4. Used to melt the ice in winter in cold countries.
5. Used for making chemical likes washing Soda, baking soda
etc.
Potassium nitrate KNO3 1. a	substance	that	occurs	naturally	as	a	white	
crystalline	salt	and	is	also	produced	
synthetically.	
2. used	in	preserving	meat,	
3. in	fertilizer,	
4. as	a	constituent	of	gunpowder.
Sodium Carbonate or Washing Soda
(Na2CO3.10H2O)
1. Used as cleansing agent
2. Used for removing permanent hardness of water
3. Used in the manufacturing of glass, soap and paper
Baking Soda or Sodium Bicarbonate
(NaHCO3)
1. Used as neutralising agent (antacid)
2. Used for making baking powder
3. Used in fire extinguisher
Bleaching Powder or Calcium
Hypochlorite Ca(ClO)2
1. Used as bleaching agent in cotton industry and paper
industry for bleaching cotton and linen as well as wood pulp
respectively
2. Used for disinfecting drinking water
3. Used for making chloroform (CHCl3)
4. Used for making the wool unshrinkable
Plaster of Paris or Hemihydrate
Calcium sulphate, CaSO4 1/2 H2O
1. Used in hospital for setting fractured bone
2. Used for making toys, decoration material cheap ornament,
chalk etc
3. Used for fire-proofing material
4. Used for making surface smooth.
The	name	of	the	salt	comes	from	the	name	of	acid.	For	Example-	Hydrochloride	acids	are	
called	Chlorides,	Sulphuric	Acid	are	called	Sulphates,	Nitric	Acid	are	called	Nitrates,	
Carbonic	acid	are	called	Carbonates,	and	Acetic	acid	are	called	acetates.