You dissolve some silver nitrate in your tap water from home, and the water turns cloudy. What chemical species might be in your tap water?

Tap water typically contains various dissolved ions, such as calcium ions (Ca²⁺), magnesium ions (Mg²⁺), chloride ions (Cl⁻), sulfates (SO₄²⁻), and bicarbonates (HCO₃⁻). It's important to consider these common ions as potential reacting species with silver nitrate.

Silver nitrate (AgNO₃) is a soluble salt that dissociates into silver ions (Ag⁺) and nitrate ions (NO₃⁻) when dissolved in water. The general reaction of silver nitrate with a hypothetical ion X can be written as follows: AgNO₃ + X → AgX + NO₃⁻ Now, we can substitute X with each of the ions mentioned in Step 1 and determine which reactions lead to the formation of a cloudy solution.

A cloudy solution usually indicates the formation of a precipitate, which is an insoluble compound. Therefore, we can evaluate the solubility of the potential products formed by the reactions in Step 2. Using a solubility chart or solubility rules, we can determine whether the resulting compounds are soluble or insoluble: 1. Reaction with Ca²⁺: AgNO₃ + Ca²⁺ → Ag⁺ + Ca(NO₃)₂ Silver calcium nitrate (Ca(NO₃)₂) is soluble in water; thus, it wouldn't make the water cloudy. 2. Reaction with Mg²⁺: AgNO₃ + Mg²⁺ → Ag⁺ + Mg(NO₃)₂ Silver magnesium nitrate (Mg(NO₃)₂) is soluble in water; thus, it wouldn't make the water cloudy. 3. Reaction with Cl⁻: AgNO₃ + Cl⁻ → AgCl + NO₃⁻ Silver chloride (AgCl) is insoluble in water; thus, it would produce a cloudy white precipitate. 4. Reaction with SO₄²⁻: AgNO₃ + SO₄²⁻ → Ag₂SO₄ + 2 NO₃⁻ Silver sulfate (Ag₂SO₄) is slightly soluble in water, but its low solubility could still produce a cloudy solution. 5. Reaction with HCO₃⁻: AgNO₃ + HCO₃⁻ → AgHCO₃ + NO₃⁻ Silver bicarbonate (AgHCO₃) is insoluble in water, thus it would form a white precipitate and make the water cloudy.

Based on the analysis, the chemical species that might be present in the tap water are chloride ions (Cl⁻), sulfate ions (SO₄²⁻), and bicarbonate ions (HCO₃⁻). These ions react with silver nitrate to form insoluble or slightly soluble compounds, which can be observed as a cloudy solution.