Chapter 10
Effect of Electrolytes on
Chemical Equilibria
The equilibrium constants for chemical reactions should be written in terms
of the activities of the participating species.
The activity of a species is related to its concentration by a factor called the
activity coefficient.
In some cases, the activity of a reactant is essentially equal to its
concentration, and we can write the equilibrium constant in terms of the
concentrations of the participating species.
In the case of ionic equilibria, however, activities and concentrations can be
substantially different.
Such equilibria are also affected by the concentrations of electrolytes in
solution that may not participate directly in the reaction.
10A The effect of electrolytes on chemical equilibria
The position of most solution equilibria depends on the electrolyte
concentration of the medium, even when the added electrolyte contains no
ion in common with those participating in the equilibrium.
H 3 AsO4 + 3I − + 2 H + ↔ H 3 AsO3 + I 3− + H 2 O
If an electrolyte, such as barium nitrate, is added to this solution, the color of
the triiodide ion becomes less intense, indicating that the concentration of I3-
has decreased and that the equilibrium has been shifted to the left.
Concentration-based equilibrium constants are often indicated by adding a
prime mark, for example, Krw’, Krsp’, Kra’.
As the electrolyte concentration becomes very small, concentration-based
equilibrium constants approach their thermodynamic values: Kw’, Ksp’, Ka’.
A relationship that approaches a constant value as some variable (in this
instance, the electrolyte concentration) approaches zero is called a limiting
law.
The constant numerical value observed at this limit is referred to as a limiting
value.
Figure 10-1 Effect of electrolyte concentration on concentration-based equilibrium
constants.
The Effect of Ionic Charges on Equilibria
The magnitude of the electrolyte effect is highly dependent on the charges of
the participants in an equilibrium.
When only neutral species are involved, the position of equilibrium is
essentially independent of electrolyte concentration.
With ionic participants, the magnitude of the electrolyte effect increases
with charge.
Figure 10-2 Effect of electrolyte concentration on the solubility of
some salts for compounds containing ions of different charge.
The Effect of Ionic Strength
The effect of added electrolyte on equilibria is independent of the chemical
nature of the electrolyte but depends on a property of the solution called
the ionic strength, which is defined as
ionic strength = µ =
1
2
( )
[A]Z A2 + [B]Z B2 + [C ]Z C2 + ...
where [A], [B], [C], . . . represent the species molar concentrations of ions A,
B, C, . . . and ZA, ZB, ZC, . . . are their charges.
The ionic strength of a solution of a strong electrolyte consisting solely of
singly charged ions is identical to its total molar salt concentration.
For solutions with ionic strengths of 0.1 M or less, the electrolyte effect is
independent of the kind of ions and dependent only on the ionic strength.
The Salt Effect
The electrolyte effect (salt effect) results from the electrostatic attractive and
repulsive forces between the ions of an electrolyte and the ions involved in
an equilibrium.
These forces cause each ion from the dissociated reactant to be surrounded
by a sheath of solution that contains a slight excess of electrolyte ions of
opposite charge.
10 B Activity coefficients
The activity, or effective concentration, of species X depends on the ionic
strength of the medium and is defined by
a X = [X ]γ X
where aX is the activity of the species X, [X] is its molar concentration, and γX
is a dimensionless quantity called the activity coefficient.
The activity of a species is a measure of its effective concentration as
determined by colligative properties.
If we substitute aX for [X] in any equilibrium-constant expression, we find
that the equilibrium constant is then independent of the ionic strength.
To illustrate this point, if XmYn is a precipitate, the thermodynamic solubility
product expression is defined by the equation:
K sp = a Xm ⋅ aYn
K sp = [X ] [Y ] ⋅ γ Xm γ Yn = K sp
ι
⋅ γ Xm γ Yn
m n
K′sp is the concentration solubility product constant, and Ksp is the
thermodynamic equilibrium constant.
Properties of Activity Coefficients
Activity coefficients have the following properties:
1. The activity coefficient of a species is a measure of the effectiveness
with which that species influences an equilibrium in which it is a
participant.
In very dilute solutions in which the ionic strength is minimal, this
effectiveness becomes constant, and the activity coefficient is unity.
Under these circumstances, the activity and the molar concentration are
identical. As the ionic strength increases, an ion loses some of its
effectiveness, and its activity coefficient decreases.
As µ→∞ 0, γX → 1, aX → [X], and K′sp→ Ksp
2. In solutions that are not too concentrated, the activity coefficient for a
given species is independent of the nature of the electrolyte and
dependent only on the ionic strength.
3. For a given ionic strength, the activity coefficient of an ion decreases more
dramatically from unity as the charge on the species increases.
Figure 10-3 Effect of ionic strength on activity coefficients.
4. The activity coefficient of an uncharged molecule is approximately unity,
no matter what the level of ionic strength.
5. At any given ionic strength, the activity coefficients of ions of the same
charge are approximately equal. The small variations among ions of
the same charge can be correlated with the effective diameter of the
hydrated ions.
The activity coefficient of a given ion describes its effective behavior in
all equilibria in which it participates.
At a given ionic strength, a single activity coefficient for cyanide ion
describes the influence of that species on any of the following equilibria:
HCN + H2O ⇔ H3O+ + CN-
Ag+ + CN- ⇔ AgCN(s)
Ni+2 + 4CN- ⇔ Ni(CN)4-2
The Debye-Hückel Equation
This equation that permits the calculation of activity coefficients of ions from
their charge and their average size.
0.51Z X2 µ
− log γ X =
1 + 3.3α X µ
Where, γX is the activity coefficient of the species X ;
ZX is the charge on the species X
µ is the ionic strength of the solution
aX is the effective diameter of the hydrated ion X in nanometers (10-9 m).
When µ < 0.01 M, 1 + √µ ≈ 1, the equation becomes
-log γX = 0.51 Z2X √µ
This equation is referred to as the Debye-hückel Limiting Law (DhLL).
In solutions of very low ionic strength (µ < 0.01 M), the DhLL can be used
to calculate approximate activity coefficients.
The Debye-Hückel limiting law is usually assumed to be accurate at values
of m up to about 0.01 for singly charged ions.
Equilibrium Calculations Using Activity Coefficients
Omitting Activity Coefficients in Equilibrium Calculations
Activity coefficients are usually neglected and molar concentrations are used
in applications of the equilibrium law. This approximation simplifies the
calculations and greatly decreases the amount of data needed. For most
purposes, the error introduced by the assumption of unity for the activity
coefficient is not large enough to lead to false conclusions.
Significant discrepancies occur when the ionic strength is large (0.01 M or
larger) or when the participating ions have multiple charges.
With dilute solutions (µ < 0.01 M) of nonelectrolytes or of singly charged
ions, mass-law calculations using concentrations are often reasonably
accurate.
