Answer. Salts are ionic compounds generally formed by the neutralization of an acid with a base. Salts are made up of positive ions (cations) and negative ions (anions). A cation is metallic ion and is derived from a base, therefore, it is called basic radical. While anion is derived from acid therefore it is called acidic radical.
Characteristic properties of salts
Salts are ionic compounds found in crystalline form,
They have high melting and toiling points.
(iii) Most of the salts contain water of crystallization which is responsible for the shape of the crystals. Numbers of molecules of water are specific for each salt and they are written with the chemical formula of a salt. For example,
Copper sulphate CuSO4.5H2O; Calcium sulphate CaSO4H2O
(iv) Salts are neutral compounds. Although, they do not compose of equal number of positive and negative ions, but have equal number of positive and negative charges.