On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of salt dough ornaments page across from the article title. This article is about the term as used in chemistry. For the chemistry of table salt, see Sodium chloride.

In chemistry, a salt is a chemical compound consisting of an ionic assembly of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, which results in a compound with no net electric charge. Salts can be classified in a variety of ways. Solid salts tend to be transparent, as illustrated by sodium chloride. Salts exist in many different colors, which arise either from their constituent anions, cations or solvates. Few minerals are salts, because they would be solubilized by water. Similarly, inorganic pigments tend not to be salts, because insolubility is required for fastness.

Different salts can elicit all five basic tastes, e. Many ionic compounds exhibit significant solubility in water or other polar solvents. Unlike molecular compounds, salts dissociate in solution into anionic and cationic components. The lattice energy, the cohesive forces between these ions within a solid, determines the solubility.

Molten salts or solutions of salts conduct electricity. Salts characteristically have high melting points. Some salts with low lattice energies are liquid at or near room temperature. These include molten salts, which are usually mixtures of salts, and ionic liquids, which usually contain organic cations. A base and an acid, e.

A metal and an acid, e. A metal and a non-metal, e. A base and an acid anhydride, e. An acid and a base anhydride, e. In the salt metathesis reaction where two different salts are mixed in water, their ions recombine, and the new salt is insoluble and precipitates. Strong salts or strong electrolyte salts are chemical salts composed of strong electrolytes.

These ionic compounds dissociate completely in water. They are generally odorless and nonvolatile. Strong salts start with Na__, K__, NH4__, or they end with __NO3, __ClO4, or __CH3COO. Most group 1 and 2 metals form strong salts. Strong salts are especially useful when creating conductive compounds as their constituent ions allow for greater conductivity. Weak salts or “weak electrolyte salts” are, as the name suggests, composed of weak electrolytes.

They are generally more volatile than strong salts. They may be similar in odor to the acid or base they are derived from. IUPAC, Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. Réexamen de la structure du complexe hexaméthylène-tétrathiafulvalène-tétracyanoquinodiméthane”. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title.