Q.

During the preparation of hydrogen chloride gas on a humid day, the gas is usually passed through the guard tube containing calcium chloride. The role of calcium chloride is to:

1 Absorb the evolved gas  
2 Moisten the gas  
3 Absorb moisture from the gas  
4 Absorb Cl- ions from the evolved gas  

Ans.

(3)

Calcium chloride is a drying agent used in the guard tube to absorb the moisture present in the air during hydrogen chloride gas preparation. Moisture must be removed to prevent the gas from forming white fumes, which occurs due to its reaction with water.