Solubility is the maximum amount of solute that can be dissolved in a solvent at equilibrium.

Equilibrium is the state at which the concentrations of products and reactant are constant after the
reaction has taken place.

The solubility product constant (Kso)

equation showing the equilibrium between a solid and its constituent ions in a solution

Let's take a salt AmBn which dissociates according to the equation:

AmBn ⇌ mAn+ + nBm-

so the formula of solubility constant will look as follows:

Kso=[ An+]m⋅[ Bm-]n

where:

Kso - solubility constant [no units]

[ An+] and [ Bm-] - molar concentration of ions An+ i Bn− in saturated solution of AB salt

Kso is used in case of saturated solutions of ionic substances.

A saturated solution is in a state of equilibrium between the dissolved, dissociated,

undissolved solid, and the ionic compound.

The value of the constant identifies the degree to which the compound can dissociate in water. The
higher the Kso, the more soluble the compound is.

Molar solubility, which is directly related to the solubility product, is the number of moles of
the solute that can be dissolved per liter of solution before the solution becomes saturated.
Example 1

Find the solubility constant for PbCl2 at 25oC when you know that in 1 liter of this
solution in this temperature dissolve maximally 11 g of this salt.

PbCl2⇌Pb2++2Cl-

KSO = [Pb2+]⋅[Cl-]2

from the dissociation reaction we can see that from 1 mol of PbCl2 we get 1 mol of Pb2+ and 2
moles of Cl- so:

when we mark molar concentration of Pb2+ as x we know that the molar concentration of Cl-
is 2x so:

KSO = x ⋅ (2x)2 = 4x3

from the dissociation equation we know that the molar concentration of PbCl2 is also x

from the given date we can now calculate x

( )
from the formula for molar concentration we have: x =

nPbCl2 = MPbCl2 = 278 g/mol

nPbCl2 = 0,04 mol

.
x= = 0.04 mol/dm3

so:

KSO = 4⋅ (0.04)3 = 2.56 ⋅ 10-4

Example 2

Into 100 cm3 of AgNO3 solution with concentration 1*10-5 mol/dm3 50 cm3 of hydrochloric acid with
concentration 3*10-5 mol/dm3 was added. Will AgCl precipitate? KsoAgCl = 1,1*10-10

first we must write the equation of the reaction:

AgNO3+ HCl -->AgCl+HNO3

hardly soluble product of this reaction is AgCl and we need to check if its concentration in
this reaction exceed the solubility or not

let's write the dissociation reaction of AgCl:

AgCl ⇌ Ag+ + Cl-

now we need to find the result of multiplication of [Ag+]*[Cl-] will be higher or lower than
KSO given in the task

we know molar concentrations of both reagents and we know the volume of both solutions so
it is easy to find the number of moles:

the molar concentration of Ag+ ions after mixing of solutions we can calculate using the
formula:

we need to remember to add both volums of the solutions which were mixed:

Vc=100cm3+50cm3=150 cm3 Vc=0,15dm3

now when we know the volume and number of moles of Ag+ we can calculate the molar
concetration of Ag+

Now similarly we need to calculate the concentration of Cl- :

now we can calculate solubility of AgCl

KSO = 6,67*10-6*10-5=6,67*10-11

now we need to compare both solubility constant (which we calculated and given in the task):

6,67*10-11<1,1*10-10

so AgCl will not precipitate in the conditions given in the task.

Tasks

Task 1

Solubility constant of PbSO4 is equal to 2,2*10-8. Find molar concentration of this salt in
saturated solution.

Task 2

To 200 cm3 of Pb(NO3)2 solution with concentration 0.01 mol/dm3 was added 800 cm3
solution of KI with concentration 0.01 mol/dm3. Check if PbI2 precipitate. KSO = 2.4*10-8.