Difference Between Solubility Product And Ionic Product??

All those who want to understand the basics of Ionic Equilibrium here is topic which you usually do not find in books , but this question is frequently asked in the exams and even in the Board viva ...

So what is the Difference between Ionic product and Solubility product...

Let us consider a reaction, a reversible reaction in which silver chloride(Agcl) dissociates into chloride ion(Cl-) and silver ion(Ag+)..

AgCl <=====> (Ag+)  + ( Cl-)

Let initially at time t=0 , AgCl has concentration =a molar or a M (where M stands for molarity)... to know a bit more about molarity as of now visit www.molarity.com

Now suppose after time t=t1 seconds AgCl has dissociated to give the respective ions , now the concentration are as follows...

[AgCl]= a-x M , [Cl-]= x M , [Ag+]=x M ....

Now if we are asked to write the ionic product we simply write it down as [Cl-][Ag+]= x.x

but at the same time if the teacher asks to write solubility product you will say it is not possible right now to do so.. We can only define solubility product when the solution is Saturated...

NOW What is this Saturated solution??? .. Simple it is solution in which the rate of dissociation of salt (in the above example AgCl) is equal to the rate of association of ions (in the above example Cl- and Ag+) to form back the salt or compound... or you can say no more of salt or compound can be added to the solution , if you tried doing so you will get the same amount of salt thrown on your face by the solution through the process called precipitation..to know more about saturated solution visit www.saturatedhaina.com....

Hence , Solubility product is same as ionic product but it is defined only when the solution is saturated....

Wishing you success in advance for your exams!!!!

With regards!!

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