Factors Affecting Solubility

Non-Polar Gases in Solution

• The solubility of gases
decrease with increasing
temperatures .

• But, why?
• Non-polar gases have very
little attraction to polar
liquids.

• Higher temperatures means

more kinetic energy to
escape the already weak
intermolecular forces.
Why Does Your Can of Soda Fizz Out When Opened?
Warm vs Cold
 Henry’s Law
• More gases can dissolve into liquids with
increased pressure.

CO2 gas is pressurized to 2.5

atm above the water to be
forced into solution.

When the pressure is

released, it quickly comes out
of solution.
Vapor Pressure
 Raoult’s Law
• The addition of a non-volatile solute will reduce
the vapor pressure of the solvent.
• The intermolecular attraction limits the
vaporization of liquid solvent molecule.
 Solubility of Salts

• Most salts increase in

solubility with
increased temperature.

• Why?
 Solubility of Salts

• The faster the water

molecules are moving,
the more collisions
occur with the salt ions.

• The warmer the

temperature, the more
kinetic energy the water
molecules have to pull
ions away.
Hydration Sphere
 Saturation
• Eventually, nearly every available water is
involved in hydration spheres and thus there
are not enough of them available to pull
additional ions off of the crystals.
 Why are Some Salts Insoluble?
• The key is whether the attraction water has toward the
ions is stronger than the attraction the ions have
toward each other.
• Generally ions with +1 or -1 charges have low
Coulombic forces, which means if enough waters can
surround and pull on them, they will be soluble.

• NaCl contains +1/-1 charged ions.

• CaCO3 has doubly charged ions, which

are harder to pull apart.
 Why are Some Salts Insoluble?
• The ability of a solvent to break ions apart and
dissolve them is called solvation.

• Most singly charged ions are soluble, while

many doubly charged ions are insoluble.
Why are most Halides and Alkali Ions Soluble?

• Even when bonded with a -2 ion, such as CO3-2,

alkali carbonates are soluble. Ex. Na2CO3

• Even when there is a +2 ion, the halides are

soluble, such as MgCl2

• That is because there are multiple single

charged ions that can be solvated by water.
 Discuss the Trends
• Why are many fluorides
insoluble?

• What is the trend for the

Group 2 metals?

• What makes lead and

silver so insoluble?
 Ionization Energy…That’s Why!
• As the radius grows larger, the ionization energy
decreases, making it easier to pull ions apart.
 Ionization Energy
• But, the large radius also means there is less attraction
between the ions and water molecules due to the larger
distances from the nuclei.
• Large ions also have more mass.
• Thus, the very large ions can become so large that water
does not have enough kinetic energy to pull them apart.
Explain the Trends and Exceptions
• Explain the difference
between the upward curves
and the downward curves.
 How to Increase Solubility of Insoluble Compounds

• Acidic solutions often help insoluble compounds

dissolve into solution. But, why?
• Mg(OH)2 is only slight soluble.

• Mg(OH)2 (s)  Mg+2 (aq) + 2OH- (aq)

• But, what happens when you add H+ ions?
 How to Increase Solubility of Insoluble Compounds
• But, what happens when you add H+ ions?

• Mg(OH)2 (s)  Mg+2 (aq) + 2OH- (aq) + 2H+ (aq)

• Mg(OH)2 (s)  Mg+2 (aq) + 2H2O

• Since we have removed most of the “insoluble” ions, there

are more waters freed up to break up additional Mg+2 ions
from the OH- ions.
 How to Increase Solubility of Insoluble Compounds
• If more H+ ions are available, there are even
more available to attack the OH- ions.

• Mg(OH)2 (s) + 2H+ (aq)  Mg+2 (aq) + 2H2O

• The process repeats itself until there is no more available H+

ions or no more Mg(OH)2 to dissolve.
 Practical Purposes
• How do you remove calcium scale (CaCO3) from
your pots and sinks?
• CaCO3 (s) + H+ (aq)  Ca+2 (aq) + H2O (l) + CO2 (g)