What type of aqueous solution is always an electrolyte

Dissolution of an ionic compound is facilitated by ion-dipole attractions between the ions of the compound and the polar water molecules. Soluble ionic substances and strong acids ionize completely and are strong electrolytes, while weak acids and bases ionize to only a small extent and are weak electrolytes.

Nonelectrolytes are substances that do not produce ions when dissolved in water. Crystals of NaCl dissolve in water, a polar liquid with a very large dipole moment, and the individual ions become strongly solvated. Hexane is a nonpolar liquid with a dipole moment of zero and, therefore, does not significantly interact with the ions of the NaCl crystals.

Therefore, z best represents the solution. Skip to content Chapter Solutions and Colloids. Learning Objectives By the end of this module, you will be able to:. Explain why solutions of HBr in benzene a nonpolar solvent are nonconductive, while solutions in water a polar solvent are conductive. Consider the solutions presented: a Which of the following sketches best represents the ions in a solution of Fe NO 3 3 aq?

Write equations and prepare sketches showing the form in which each of these compounds is present in its respective solution. When a solute dissociates in water to form ions, it is called an electrolyte , due to the solution being a good electrical conductor. When no ions are produced, or the ion content is low, the solute is a non-electrolyte.

Non-electrolytes do not conduct electricity or conduct it to a very small degree. In an aqueous solution a strong electrolyte is considered to be completely ionized, or dissociated, in water, meaning it is soluble. Strong acids and bases are usually strong electrolytes. A weak electrolyte then is considered to be one that is not completely dissociated, therefore still containing whole compounds and ions in the solution.

Weak acids and bases are generally weak electrolytes. In other words, strong electrolytes have a better tendency to supply ions to the aqueous solution than weak electrolytes, and therefore strong electrolytes create an aqueous solution that is a better conductor of electricity. The ionic compound dissociates completely to form ions in water, therefore, it is a strong electrolyte.

This means that the reaction is reversible and never goes to completion. The interaction is called hydration. For nonelectrolytes, all that needs to be done is write the molecular formula because no reaction or dissociation occurs. An electrolyte is any salt or ionizable molecule that, when dissolved in solution, will give that solution the ability to conduct electricity.

This is because when a salt dissolves, its dissociated ions can move freely in solution, allowing a charge to flow. Electrolyte solutions are normally formed when a salt is placed into a solvent such as water. For example, when table salt, NaCl, is placed in water, the salt a solid dissolves into its component ions, according to the dissociation reaction:. It is also possible for substances to react with water to yield ions in solution.

For example, carbon dioxide gas, CO2, will dissolve in water to produce a solution that contains hydrogen ions, carbonate, and hydrogen carbonate ions:. The resulting solution will conduct electricity because it contains ions. It is important to keep in mind, however, that CO 2 is not an electrolyte, because CO 2 itself does not dissociate into ions. Only compounds that dissociate into their component ions in solution qualify as electrolytes. As mentioned above, when an ionizable solute dissociates, the resulting solution can conduct electricity.

Therefore, compounds that readily form ions in solution are known as strong electrolytes. By this reasoning, all strong acids and strong bases are strong electrolytes. By contrast, if a compound dissociates to a small extent, the solution will be a weak conductor of electricity; a compound that only dissociates weakly, therefore, is known as a weak electrolyte.

A strong electrolyte will completely dissociate into its component ions in solution; a weak electrolyte, on the other hand, will remain mostly undissociated in solution. An example of a weak electrolyte is acetic acid, which is also a weak acid.

Gatorade as an electrolyte solution : The sports drink Gatorade advertises that it contains electrolytes because it contains sodium, potassium, magnesium, and other ions. When humans sweat, we lose ions necessary for vital bodily functions; to replenish them, we need to consume more ions, often in the form of an electrolyte solution. In the human body, electrolytes have many uses, including helping neurons conduct electrical impulses. Nonelectrolytes are compounds that do not ionize at all in solution.

As a result, solutions containing nonelectrolytes will not conduct electricity. If not, it is a nonelectrolyte. Most chemical reactions are carried out in solutions , which are homogeneous mixtures of two or more substances. In a solution, a solute the substance present in the lesser amount is dispersed in a solvent the substance present in the greater amount. Aqueous solutions contain water as the solvent, whereas nonaqueous solutions have solvents other than water.

Polar substances, such as water, contain asymmetric arrangements of polar bonds , in which electrons are shared unequally between bonded atoms. Polar substances and ionic compounds tend to be most soluble in water because they interact favorably with its structure. In aqueous solution, dissolved ions become hydrated ; that is, a shell of water molecules surrounds them. Substances that dissolve in water can be categorized according to whether the resulting aqueous solutions conduct electricity.

Strong electrolytes dissociate completely into ions to produce solutions that conduct electricity well. Weak electrolytes produce a relatively small number of ions, resulting in solutions that conduct electricity poorly. Nonelectrolytes dissolve as uncharged molecules and have no effect on the electrical conductivity of water.

Modified by Joshua Halpern Howard University. Learning Objectives To understand how and why solutions form. Each water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom in a bent V-shaped structure. For the molecule to have a net charge of zero, the partial negative charge on oxygen must be twice as large as the partial positive charge on each hydrogen. Two views of a water molecule are shown: a a ball-and-stick structure and b a space-filling model.