Under what soil condition do you think a farmer would treat the soil of his fields with quick lime (calcium oxide) or slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) or chalk (calcium carbonate)?
Answer:
Ideally, soil should be neutral with a pH of 7. Quick lime (Calcium Oxide) , Slaked lime (Calcium hydroxide) and Chalk (Calcium carbonate) are metal oxide, metal hydroxide and metal carbonate respectively. All the three compounds are basic in nature.
Hence, if the farmer has to treat the soil with either of these, then the nature of the soil must be acidic that is with a pH of less than 7.
If the soil is treated with either of these, the acid in the soil will react with these bases and neutralise the acidic nature of the soil thus making it suitable for agriculture.
