You are given aqueous solutions of six different substances and asked to determine whether they are strong, weak, or nonelectrolytes. Describe how you could test the solutions. Include definitions of strong electrolyte, weak electrolyte, and nonelectrolyte in your answer and explain how your test would allow you to differentiate between the solutions.

Question

Physics

Jacey Wallace

15 December, 18:45

You are given aqueous solutions of six different substances and asked to determine whether they are strong, weak, or nonelectrolytes. Describe how you could test the solutions. Include definitions of strong electrolyte, weak electrolyte, and nonelectrolyte in your answer and explain how your test would allow you to differentiate between the solutions.

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Amelie · Answer 1

Electrolytes are chemicals that break into ions (ionize) when they are dissolved in water. The positively-charged ions are called cations, while the negatively charged ions are called anions.

Strong electrolytes completely ionize in water. This means 100% of the dissolved chemical breaks into cations and anions.

Weak electrolytes partially ionize in water. Pretty much any dissociation into ions between 0% and 100% makes a chemical a weak electrolyte, but in practice, around 1% to 10% of a weak electrolyte breaks into ions.

If a substance doesn’t ionize in water at all, it’s a nonelectrolyte.