Question

Give the chemical name and formula of chloride of lime. What happens when it is exposed to air. Write a chemical equation.

Answer 1

Hint: Chloride of lime is an inorganic compound of an element that belongs to s-block. It belongs to group 2. It is an ingredient that is used for the preparation of bleaching powder. When exposed to air it forms calcium carbonate.

Complete answer:
The chloride of lime is an inorganic compound of calcium element. Its chemical name is calcium hypochlorite.
Its chemical formula is $Ca{{(ClO)}_{2}}$
It is an active ingredient that is used for the formation of bleaching powder and chlorine powder. The chlorine powder which is prepared from calcium hypochlorite is used for the water treatment.
The stability of calcium hypochlorite is relatively high. It has greater availability of chlorine than the sodium hypochlorite (also known as liquid bleach).
It is a white solid powder which has a strong smell of chlorine. It is soluble in soft water but insoluble in hard-water.
Industrially it is produced by reacting lime or calcium hydroxide with chlorine gas.
The reaction is given below:

$2C{{l}_{2}}+2Ca{{(OH)}_{2}}\to Ca{{(ClO)}_{2}}+CaC{{l}_{2}}+2{{H}_{2}}O$
It is a strong base and shows both acido-basic and oxydo-reduction properties.
When it is exposed to air it forms calcium carbonate and chlorine gas. The reaction is given below:

$Ca{{(ClO)}_{2}}+C{{O}_{2}}\to CaC{{O}_{3}}+C{{l}_{2}}$
It is stored in an airtight container, but the natural carbon dioxide which is present inside it causes the decomposition.

Note: Calcium hypochlorite should be stored in an airtight container and should be stored in dry and cold places, away from any acid and organic materials. When it gets mixed with acid it releases toxic chlorine gas.