What is Solubility Formula?
When a solid substance is dissolved in a liquid, then both the substance combine to form an aqueous solution, this phenomenon or the property of the liquid is known as Solubility. The Solubility product constant is nothing but the equilibrium constant of the process of dissolution of the substance that is in a solid or liquid state to an aqueous solution. The Solubility Formula or the Solubility product Formula for the liquid is denoted by the symbol Ksp. Thus, Solubility can be properly defined as a property of the substance called the solute for getting dissolved in a solvent for the formation of a solution. It is one of the physical characteristics of the compounds. Let’s take an example, the Solubility of the ionic compound, which usually dissociates into cations and anions, in water varies to a great extent. Some compounds are highly soluble such that they may even absorb moisture from the atmosphere while on the other hand, some are highly insoluble.
The Solubility Product
The Solubility of a substance depends on a number of factors. So, let us try and understand the process of Solubility which works:
-
Whenever a particular salt is dissolved in a solvent, the ionic forces of attraction (the lattice enthalpy of the ions) within the solute are overcome by the interactive forces in-between the ions and the solvent for the solute to dissolve in the solvent.
-
So, whenever the solute dissolves in the solvent, typically some energy is released in the process, and hence, the solvation enthalpy of the ions becomes negative.
-
The nature of the solvent is determined by the amount of energy that is released during the process of solvation giving the solvation enthalpy.
-
In the case of the non-polar solvents, the energy is not sufficient to overcome the forces between the components of the solute i.e. the lattice enthalpy, and hence, in turn, non-polar solvents have very low solvation enthalpy.
