BaCl test

What is Barium Chloride testing for? And why is dilute nitric acid added. I believe it is to remove ions which may form precipitates, so if the solution had a white precipitate, and after adding HNO₃ it turns colourless - is that an indicator of carbonate ions, or what?

Bacl is a test for sulphate ions. Acid is used so that any carbonates present react with the acid so therefore if you can see a precipitate it is barium sulfate

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However the manner in which we did the experiment was that we added an unknown substance to BaCl, recorded an observation, and then added HNO3 and recorded a separate observation. Does this still apply?

Yes it still applies just in a different order. The only difference is if you do it that way round if you get a white precipitate that then disappears on addition of the acid you have a carbonate (since sulfate wouldn't react)

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