solubility of KCl

[inaccensa]

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Is the solubility of KCl greater in water or alcohol, lets say ethyl alcohol

 

[loveoforganic]

My assumption would be water because it's generally better able to solvate ions than alcohols.

 

[sv3]

My assumption would be water because it's generally better able to solvate ions than alcohols.

I don't know if this reasoning works but wanna run it by you: Since water is usually more acidic than alcohols, could you say its more polar and thus a better solvent? (for ionic cmpds at least)

I think my assumption above is incorrect but not sure why.........

thanks

 

[loveoforganic]

Well, you're taking a simple case that isn't going to be applicable across the board. You can have a highly polar molecule that isn't very acidic at all, and you can have a completely nonpolar molecule that's highly acidic. I think a better way of thinking about it would be (and I'm not 100% sure on this, but pretty confident) that the stronger hydrogen bonding a molecule is able to exhibit, the more likely it is to be able to solvate an ion. There are probably cases that fall away from that statement though, probably due to ion size and charge or something.

 

[sv3]

Well, you're taking a simple case that isn't going to be applicable across the board. You can have a highly polar molecule that isn't very acidic at all, and you can have a completely nonpolar molecule that's highly acidic. I think a better way of thinking about it would be (and I'm not 100% sure on this, but pretty confident) that the stronger hydrogen bonding a molecule is able to exhibit, the more likely it is to be able to solvate an ion. There are probably cases that fall away from that statement though, probably due to ion size and charge or something.

that's really good to know. I figured i was just piecing things together when i shouldnt have been.................

cheers