Electrolytes dissociation constant

Properties Mobile oil colorless odorless. Supplied commercially as a 70% aqueous solution stabilized with phosphoric acid. Bp 183C (slight decomposition), mp does not solidify when cooled to —TIC, d 1.1039 (19C), refr index 1.4090 (25C), electrolytic dissociation constant K = 0.843 x 10"5 (25C). 

Acid Dissociation Constants and piC, Values for Some Weak Electrolyt (at 25°C) es... 

The Henderson-Hasselbalch equation provides a general solution to the quantitative treatment of acid-base equilibria in biological systems. Table 2.4 gives the acid dissociation constants and values for some weak electrolytes of biochemical interest. 

The shapes of the titration curves of weak electrolytes are identical, as Figure 2.13 reveals. Note, however, that the midpoints of the different curves vary in a way that characterizes the particular electrolytes. The pV, for acetic acid is 4.76, the pV, for imidazole is 6.99, and that for ammonium is 9.25. These pV, values are directly related to the dissociation constants of these substances, or, viewed the other way, to the relative affinities of the conjugate bases for protons. NH3 has a high affinity for protons compared to Ac NH4 is a poor acid compared to HAc. 

Furthermore, about 1920 the idea had become prevalent that many common crystals, such as rock salt, consisted of positive and negative ions in contact. It then became natural to suppose that, when this crystal dissolves in a liquid, the positive and negative ions go into solution separately. Previously it had been thought that, in each case when the crystal of an electrolyte dissolves in a solvent, neutral molecules first go into solution, and then a certain large fraction of the molecules are dissociated into ions. This equilibrium was expressed by means of a dissociation constant. Nowadays it is taken for granted that nearly all the common salts in aqueous solution are completely dissociated into ions. In those rare cases where a solute is not completely dissociated into ions, an equilibrium is sometimes expressed by means of an association constant that is to say, one may take as the starting point a completely dissociated electrolyte, and use this association constant to express the fact that a certain fraction of the ions are not free. This point of view leads directly to an emphasis on the existence of molecular ions in solution. When, for example, a solution contains Pb++ ions and Cl- ions, association would lead directly to the formation of molecular ions, with the equilibrium... 

The conductivity of a solution containing such molecular ions may be small compared with the value that would result from complete dissociation into atomic ions. In this way, in the absence of neutral molecules, we can have a weak electrolyte. The association constant for (29) has a value that is, of course, the reciprocal of the dissociation constant for the molecular ion (PbCl)+ the logarithms of the two equilibrium constants have the same numerical value, but opposite sign. 

K is the equilibrium constant at a particular temperature and is usually known as the ionisation constant or dissociation constant. If 1 mole of the electrolyte is dissolved in Vlitres of solution (V = l/c, where c is the concentration in moles per litre), and if a is the degree of ionisation at equilibrium, then the amount of un-ionised electrolyte will be (1 — a) moles, and the amount of each of the ions will be a moles. The concentration of un-ionised acetic acid will therefore be (1 — a)/ V, and the concentration of each of the ions cl/V. Substituting in the equilibrium equation, we obtain the expression ... 

For very weak or slightly ionised electrolyes, the expression a2/( 1 — a) V = K reduces to a2 = KV or a = fKV, since a may be neglected in comparison with unity. Hence for any two weak acids or bases at a given dilution V (in L), we have a1 = y/K1 V and a2 = yjK2V, or ol1/ol2 = Jk1/ /K2. Expressed in words, for any two weak or slightly dissociated electrolytes at equal dilutions, the degrees of dissociation are proportional to the square roots of their ionisation constants. Some values for the dissociation constants at 25 °C for weak acids and bases are collected in Appendix 7. 

The above examples assume that the strong base KOH is completely dissociated in solution and that the concentration of OH ions was thus equal to that of the KOH. This assumption is valid for dilute solutions of strong bases or acids but not for weak bases or acids. Since weak electrolytes dissociate only slightly in solution, we must use the dissociation constant to calculate the concentration of [H" ] (or [OH ]) produced by a given molarity of a weak acid (or base) before calculating total [H" ] (or total [OH ]) and subsequendy pH. 

According to modem views, the basic points of the theory of electrolytic dissociation are correct and were of exceptional importance for the development of solution theory. However, there are a number of defects. The quantitative relations of the theory are applicable only to dilute solutions of weak electrolytes (up to 10 to 10 M). Deviations are observed at higher concentrations the values of a calculated with Eqs. (7.5) and (7.6) do not coincide the dissociation constant calculated with Eq. (7.9) varies with concentration and so on. For strong electrolytes the quantitative relations of the theory are altogether inapplicable, even in extremely dilute solutions. 

Because the dissociation constants for various electrolytes differ by several order of magnitude, the following definition... 

Fig. 1.2 Dependence of the dissociation degree a of a week electrolyte on molar concentration c for different values of the apparent dissociation constant K (indicated at each curve)... 

For strong electrolytes, the activity of molecules cannot be considered, as no molecules are present, and thus the concept of the dissociation constant loses its meaning. However, the experimentally determined values of the dissociation constant are finite and the values of the degree of dissociation differ from unity. This is not the result of incomplete dissociation, but is rather connected with non-ideal behaviour (Section 1.3) and with ion association occurring in these solutions (see Section 1.2.4). 

The excess electrolyte is often termed the indifferent electrolyte. From the practical point of view, solutions containing an indifferent electrolyte are very often used in miscellaneous investigations. For example, when determining equilibrium constants (e.g. apparent dissociation constants, Eq. 1.1.26) it is necessary only to indicate the indifferent electrolyte and its concentration, as they do not change when the concentrations of the reactants are changed. Moreover, the indifferent electrolyte is important in the study of diffusion transport (Section 2.5), for elimination of liquid... 

The potentiometric measurement of physicochemical quantities such as dissociation constants, activity coefficients and thus also pH is accompanied by a basic problem, leading to complications that can be solved only if certain assumptions are accepted. Potentiometric measurements in cells without liquid junctions lead to mean activity or mean activity coefficient values (of an electrolyte), rather than the individual ionic values. 

Consider how a weak electrolyte is distributed across the gastric mucosa between plasma (pH 7.4) and gastric fluid (pH 1.0). In each compartment, the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation gives the ratio of acid-base concentrations. The negative logarithm of the acid dissociation constant is designated here by the symbol pAa rather than the more precisely correct pK1. 

If the ions are large, it is to be expected that the ratio of free ions to ion-pairs will be relatively great. For instance, it follows from the Fuoss equation [72] that if the interionic distance is 10 A, then in ethyl chloride at -78° (eT = 3.29 x 103) [73], the dissociation constant of ion-pairs is 2.5 x 10"3 mole/1. At a total concentration of electrolyte of 5 x 10 2 mole/1, the degree of dissociation is 0.2, and the ratio [cations]/... 

Another useful innovation is the formulation of an equation relating Up to c IKD where c is the total concentration of the electrolyte and KD the dissociation constant of the ion-pairs. In a later paper it will be noted that this is the reciprocal of a (much simpler) equation relating KD/c to pH which had been derived previously by Bos and Treloar (A). 

The ratio of the molecular to the ionic concentrations of the electrolyte is determined by the dissociation constant K. The activity is related to the molality through the activity coefficient... 

In applying this equation to multi-solute systems, the ionic concentrations are of sufficient magnitude that molecule-ion and ion-ion interactions must be considered. Edwards et al. (6) used a method proposed by Bromley (J7) for the estimation of the B parameters. The model was found to be useful for the calculation of multi-solute equilibria in the NH3+H5S+H2O and NH3+CO2+H2O systems. However, because of the assumptions regarding the activity of the water and the use of only two-body interaction parameters, the model is suitable only up to molecular concentrations of about 2 molal. As well the temperature was restricted to the range 0° to 100 oc because of the equations used for the Henry1s constants and the dissociation constants. In a later study, Edwards et al. (8) extended the correlation to higher concentrations (up to 10 - 20 molal) and higher temperatures (0° to 170 °C). In this work the activity coefficients of the electrolytes were calculated from an expression due to Pitzer (9) ... 

VAN AKEN et al. 0) and EDWARDS et al. (2) made clear that two sets of fundamental parameters are useful in describing vapor-liquid equilibria of volatile weak electrolytes, (1) the dissociation constant(s) K of acids, bases and water, and (2) the Henry s constants H of undissociated volatile molecules. A thermodynamic model can be built incorporating the definitions of these parameters and appropriate equations for mass balance and electric neutrality. It is complete if deviations to ideality are taken into account. The basic framework developped by EDWARDS, NEWMAN and PRAUSNITZ (2) (table 1) was used by authors who worked on volatile electrolyte systems the difference among their models are in the choice of parameters and in the representation of deviations to ideality. 

Such a chemical approach which links ionic conductivity with thermodynamic characteristics of the dissociating species was initially proposed by Ravaine and Souquet (1977). Since it simply extends to glasses the theory of electrolytic dissociation proposed a century ago by Arrhenius for liquid ionic solutions, this approach is currently called the weak electrolyte theory. The weak electrolyte approach allows, for a glass in which the ionic conductivity is mainly dominated by an MY salt, a simple relationship between the cationic conductivity a+, the electrical mobility u+ of the charge carrier, the dissociation constant and the thermodynamic activity of the salt with a partial molar free energy AG y with respect to an arbitrary reference state ... 

Conductance measurements also have been used for the estimation of dissociation constants of weak electrolytes. If we use acetic acid as an example, we find that the equivalent conductance A shows a strong dependence on concentration, as illustrated in Figure 20.2. The rapid decline in A with increasing concentration is largely from a decrease in the fraction of dissociated molecules. 

Optical and nuclear magnetic resonance methods apphcable to moderately strong electrolytes have been made increasingly precise (14). By these methods, it has proved feasible to determine concentrations of the undissociated species and hence of the dissociation constants. Thus, for HNO3 in aqueous solution (14) at 25°C, K is 24. However, in dehning this equilibrium constant, we have changed the standard state for aqueous nitric acid, and the activity of the undissociated species is given by the equation... 

Ostwald dilution law phys chem The law that for a sufficiently dilute solution of univalent electrolyte, the dissociation constant approximates o d( - a), where c is the concentration of electrolyte and [Pg.272]

One major drawback of these sulfonate salts is their poor ion conductivity in nonaqueous solvents as compared with other salts. In fact, among all the salts listed in Table 3, LiTf affords the lowest conducting solution. This is believed to be caused by the combination of its low dissociation constant in low dielectric media and its moderate ion mobil-ityi29 3 compared with those of other salts. Serious ion pairing in LiTf-based electrolytes is expected, especially when solvents of low dielectric constant such as ethers are used. ... 

Sven Otto Pettersson, 1848-1941. Professor of chemistry at the University of Stockholm from 1881-1908. Hydrog-rapher and oceanographer. He collaborated with Lars Fredrik Nilson in researches on metallic titanium and the physical constants of titanium and germanium. He was one of the first chemists to support Svante Arrhenius in his views on electrolytic dissociation. For a discussion of his hydrographic work see ref. (69). 

For a univalent electrolyte and retaining only the linear term in [4] the dependence of the dissociation constant upon electric field strength can formally be written as a Van t Hoff type equation 3... 

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