Anhydrous salts
Anhydrous refers to a substance that is completely devoid of water. Anhydrous salts are salts that have lost their water of crystallisation. As a result, anhydrous salts lack crystallisation water. An anhydrous salt becomes hydrated when water is introduced to it.
Calcium chloride, in its anhydrous state, has a variety of applications. It can also detect humidity in the air and vapour. Calcium chloride is used in several industrial safe checks to measure road erosion or cracks.
In experiments, removing moisture is important because it typically controls side reactions or other unexpected consequences in the chemicals being studied. Organic compounds can be dried with drying agents like Na2SO4 and MgSO4. When these anhydrous materials come into touch with water, however, the water is absorbed rather than merely evaporated. As a result, such drying solutions are incomplete, traces of water may be left behind, and compounds may be regarded as polluted as a result.
Water of Crystallization
Crystallization is a technique for separating solids from a solution or, to put it another way, a procedure for purifying things. This is the most frequent method for purifying seawater. Some salts have a few water molecules in their crystal structure as an essential component. The water of crystallisation refers to the water molecules that make up a crystal’s structure. Hydrated salts are salts that contain the water that causes crystallization. Below is a detailed explanation of crystallisation of water, hydrated and anhydrous salts, and also the action of heat on the hydrated salts.