Solubility

Question 1

What is solubility?

Answer 1

• The ability of a substance to dissolve in a particular substance, such as water.
• When a substance is “insoluble”, it means that the substance cannot dissolve into a solvent.
• Substances that are insoluble are said to be “precipitates”.

Question 2

What is Ionic compounds and solubility?

Answer 2

• When an ionic compound is placed into water, the ions will split apart from each other.
• This is called dissociation.
• When an ionic compound dissociate, the crystal lattice breaks apart and the ions are able to move freely in the solvent.
• If two or more ionic compounds are placed in water a precipitate can form between two or more of the free ions,

Question 3

How do you predict solubility?

Answer 3

• In order to predict whether or not an ionic compound will be soluble in water or whether it will form a precipitate you must use the solubility table.
  1. Find the anion in the top row of the solubility table.
  2. Look down the column of that anion to find the cation in the compound.
  3. If the cation is found in the first row the compound will be “soluble”.
  4. If the cation is found in the second row the compound will be “insoluble”.