Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
EFFECT OF ELECTROLYTES ON
CHEMICAL EQUILIBRIA
The position of most solution equilibria depends on the
electrolyte concentration of the medium, even when the
added electrolyte contains no ion in common with those
involved in the equilibrium.
H3AsO4 + 3I- + 2H+
H3AsO3 + I3- + H2O
If an electrolyte, such as barium nitrate, potassium sulfate,
or sodium perchlorate, is added to this solution, the color
of the triiodide ion becomes less intense. This decrease in
color intensity indicates that the concentration of I3- has
decreased and that the equilibrium has been shifted to the
left by the added electrolyte.
continued
ACTIVITY COEFFICIENTS
Chemists use the term activity, a, to account for the
effects of electrolytes on chemical equilibria. The
activity, or effective concentration, of species X
depends on the ionic strength of the medium and is
defined as
aX =x[X]
where, aX is the activity of X, [X] is its molar
concentration, and x is a dimensionless quantity
called the activity coefficient.
continued
continued
lo g x
0 .5 1 Z
1 3 .3
continued