Is Calcium Soluble in Water?

Is calcium metal soluble in water? Yes, it is.

But what happens when we mix calcium metal with water?

In this blog we will learn about amazing facts and usages of calcium and its water compound, so let’s begin.

Is Calcium Soluble in Water? (Explained)

Calcium Facts

Calcium is the 20th element of the Periodic table.

It’s an alkaline earth metal, which means it is placed in Group II-A of the periodic table.

Its natural form is a soft greyish-white metal.

The calcium metal is reactive and a good conductor of electricity.

Calcium is the most commonly found element, it’s present in the earth’s crust, in the moon’s crust, and also in our bodies.

The bones of our body contain calcium and it gives them strength.

In our surroundings, calcium is present in many different forms, such as Calcium carbonate and calcium citrate in our body, or calcium oxide also known as quick lime used in the production of iron, paper, etc.

What does “solubility” mean?

The amount of substance dissolved in a solvent is the solubility of that substance.

The substance that is being dissolved is “solute” and the dissolving substance is “solvent”.

If a solute dissolves in solvent then the solute is soluble and if the solute does not dissolve in the solvent, then the solution is insoluble.

The solubility of a substance depends upon various factors, such as temperature, pressure, the nature of the substance, and its properties.

If the temperature is low, the reaction would be slow and vice versa.

For better understanding, let us look at an example.

Take sugar and cold water, sugar is the solute and cold water is the solvent.

When we mix these two together we get a solution that is not fully saturated, which means sugar is not fully dissolved in the water yet.

If we heat the water, the water pressure would increase which would result in the dissolving of sugar fully in water and forming a supersaturated solution or a fully soluble solution.

Is Calcium Water Soluble?

Yes, it’s soluble in water.

Calcium is naturally found in a soft metallic form, so what will happen when we mix soft calcium metal with water?

Mixing calcium metal in water gives us a rapid reaction if the water is warm otherwise the reaction would be slow.

Heat would generate, which would result in the forming of fumes, so the reaction is exothermic.

The calcium would dissolve into water and produce Calcium Hydroxide also known as lime which is partially water-soluble and the remaining undissolved calcium hydroxide would form lime milk.

Due to the formation of calcium hydroxide, hydrogen gas would be formed.

We can determine the nature of calcium hydroxide in two ways.

The litmus paper method or by a performing acid-base titration method.

For the litmus method, we will dip a red litmus paper in it.

The red litmus turned blue, which tells us the nature of the solution is basic.

Or in an acid-base titration, we will add an acidic solution in the calcium hydroxide and notice the color change.

As calcium hydroxide is basic, it’ll change its color to pink, proving its basicity of it.

Calcium hydroxide is used vastly in the production and manufacturing industry.

It’s used in the production of metals such as iron and steel.

Paper manufacturers use it too, where it reacts with sodium hydroxide also known as the Kraft paper process.

Apart from metal industrial usage, Calcium hydroxide is used in the cleaning of water sewage and as disinfect to prevent infections.

It’s used in food industries, sometimes in the making of sugar from sugar cane.

The most common usage of calcium hydroxide in the food industry is the making of alcoholic beverages and soft drinks, for adding bubbles in them.

But, calcium carbonate can be poisonous if exposed to nature without any safety measures. It can cause skin problems, lung problems, blindness, or rashes.

So, it’s important to handle the compound cautiously while working with it.

How was Calcium discovered?

Calcium was discovered by Humphry Davy in 1808.

Lime was used widely and the oxides were suspected in it.

To confirm the presence of that “unknown” and “undiscovered” oxide, he decided to perform the electrolysis of lime to reduce it further, as he did for potassium and sodium, but it didn’t work.

He then prepared a mixture of two compounds, mercury oxide, and lime.

This solution gave an amalgam of calcium and mercury, still, the presence of calcium was not clear yet.

He added more lime into the solution that gave more amalgam and after distillation of mercury, calcium was left only.

And that’s how calcium was discovered.

So, in conclusion we learned about the solubility of calcium, its reaction and its uses. We hope that all of us found it helpful.