Final answer:
The reaction in question is a precipitation reaction, forming an insoluble salt, BaSO4, which precipitates out of the solution. This occurs according to solubility rules that indicate barium sulfate is insoluble in water.
Step-by-step explanation:
The reaction described is ❀BaCl2(aq) + Al2(SO4)3(aq) → BaSO4(s) + AlCl3(aq).
This reaction is a classic example of a precipitation reaction. In this type of reaction, two soluble salts are mixed together and one of the products is an insoluble salt, which precipitates out of the solution. In this case, BaSO4 is the insoluble salt that forms as a precipitate. This is because barium sulfate is one of the few compounds that is insoluble in water due to the specific solubility rules of sulfate ions.
To confirm that a precipitation reaction has occurred, we can refer to the solubility rules, where we find that compounds containing the sulfate ion (SO4^2-) are generally soluble, except when paired with certain cations like Ba^2+, which create an insoluble compound. As stated in your question, the net ionic equation after canceling out the spectator ions would be Ba^2+ (aq) + SO4^2- (aq) → BaSO4(s).