Crystals Form True Electrolytes

An important point to recall regarding the dissolution of an ionic crystal (Chapter 2) is that ionic lattices consist of ions even before they come in contact with a solvent. In fact, all that a polar solvent does is to use ion-dipole (or ion-quadrupole) forces to disengage the ions from the lattice sites, solvate them, and disperse them in solution. 

Such ionic crystals are known as true electrolytes or ionophores (the Greek suffix phore means bearer of thus, an ionophore is a substance that bears ions ). When a true electrolyte is melted, its ionic lattice is dismantled and the pure liquid true electrolyte shows considerable ionic conduction (Chapter 2). Thus, the characteristic of a true electrolyte is that in the pure liquid form it is an ionic conductor. All salts belong to this class. Sodium chloride therefore is a typical true electrolyte. 

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The result of the proton transfer is that two ions have been produced (1) an acetate ion and (2) a hydrated proton. Thus, potential electrolytes (organic acids and most bases) dissociate into ions by ionogenic, or ion-forming, chemical reactions with solvent molecules, in contrast to true electrolytes, which often give rise to ionic solutions by physical interactions between ions present in the ionic crystal and solvent molecules (Fig. 3.1). 

Ionic conduction can be observed in numerous systems liquids showing self-dissociation (e.g., water, hydrogen sulfide), solutions containing ions formed by dissociation of salts (true or real electrolytes, e.g., NaCl) or molecules (potential electrolytes, e.g., HCl) (these systems are frequently called electrolyte, obviously this convenient simplification is misleading), molten salts, ionic liquids, ionic crystals, etc. 

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