Chapter 4

Solution: -> Any homogeneous mixture. All parts of the mixture have the
identical composition.

Solvent – The substance in a solution that causes the solution to be made.

Usually it is the most abundant substance in the mixture.

Solute – The substance that is dissolved. There can be more than one solute in
a solution. In the most common solution, the solute is a solid or a liquid and the
solvent is a liquid.

An aqueous solution is one in which the solvent is water. For now we will only
deal with aqueous solutions.

Electrolyte – Substance that conducts electricity in aqueous solution.

Types:
1. Salts (ionic compound between a metal and non-metal or polyatomic
anion)
2. Acids & bases

Electrolytes can be weak or strong. A strong electrolyte breaks down into its ions
(dissociates) 100%, while a weak electrolyte dissociates only partially. This is
usually indicated by a double arrow in the equation, indicating that the reaction is
reversible, meaning that both the ions and non-ionic form are present in the
solution. Learn the list of strong, weak and non-electrolytes in Table 4.1 on page
107.

The process of dissolving in water is called hydration. Water molecules

surround and attract the ions.

A common reaction in solutions is a precipitation reaction, which results in one

or more products being an insoluble substance (called a precipitate)

Example: Pb(NO)3 (aq) + 2 NaI(aq) Æ PbI2 (s) + 2 NaNO3 (aq)

Subscript symbols: s = solid; l = liquid; g = gas; aq = aqueous

Solubility shows the maximum amount of solute that can dissolve.

Solubility varies with temperature. For a gas dissolved in a liquid, the
solubility always decreases as temperature increases. For solids dissolved in
liquids, there is no general rule about the variation of solubility with temperature,
except that most often solubility increases as temperature increases.
Some substances are soluble, some are slightly soluble and some are insoluble.
An insoluble substance is actually very slightly soluble, which you will deal with in
Chem 2.

The equations we have seen so far are molecular equations, because the full
formula of all substances is listed.

Sometimes it is convenient to use a shortcut with equations involving

electrolytes. If you write equation with all dissolved electrolytes listed as ions, it
is called an ionic equation.

If an ion appears on both sides of the equation unchanged, then we call those
ions spectator ions. We can rewrite the equation without these ions. This
shortcut is called a net ionic equation.

In the previous equation, Na+ and NO3-1 are spectator ions. The net ionic
equation becomes:

Pb+2 + 2I-1 Æ PbI2 (s)

There are several ways to define acids and bases. We will discuss 2 of these.

The first was defined by the Swedish Chemist, Svante Arrhenius in the 19th
century.
Definition of acid:
Produce excess H+ ions in aqueous solutions

Definition of base:
Produce OH- ions in aqueous solutions

This is limited to aqueous solutions only. In 1932, Danish chemist, Johannes

Bronsted gave a more general definition:

acid - Proton donor – H atom contains 1 electron and a nucleus with only 1
proton, therefore an H+ is simply a proton. Acids donate H+ ions to bases.

base - Proton acceptor - acids donate H+ ions to bases.

H3O+ or simply (H+) is called the hydronium ion

Acids and bases are electrolytes and therefore come in strong and weak forms:
strong acids - HCl, HBr, HI, HNO3, H2SO4, HClO4

strong bases - LiOH, NaOH, KOH, Ca(OH)2, Sr(OH)2, & Ba(OH)2

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 Polyprotic acids – Acids that contain >1 acidic H’s (H2SO4, H3PO4, etc)

Neutralization Reaction: - Reaction between an acid and a base. Products

always H2O and a salt (in aqueous solutions). There might also be other
products, most commonly CO2.
Example: 1. NaOH + HNO3 Æ H2O + NaNO3

Net ionic equation – Na+ and NO3-1 remain unchanged during the reaction. They
are spectator ions. The net ionic equation displays only those species that
change. In our example it would be: OH-1 + H+ Æ H2O
All strong acid + strong base reactions have this same net ionic equation.

At this point we will consider that there are 4 types of reactions (one way to
classify reactions) (Different than in book)

1. Combination (synthesis) - A + B Æ C
2 or more smaller substances combine to form one larger substance.

2H2 + O2 Æ 2H2O

2. Decomposition - C Æ A + B
One larger substances breaks down into 2 or more smaller
substances.

CaCO3 Æ CaO + CO2

3. Substitution -> AB + C Æ AC + B
One element displaces another element.

Zn + 2HCl Æ H2 + ZnCl2

4. Double Displacement (Metathesis) - AB + CD Æ AD + CB

Two elements exchange places.

H2SO4 + BaCl2 Æ BaSO4 + 2 HCl

Concentration: The actual amount of solute that is dissolved in a particular

solution.
We will look at one of the most common forms here:

Moles of solute
Molarity =
L of solution

Frequently chemists need to dilute a more concentrated solution to a more dilute

solution. The formula to figure this out is:
C1V1 = C2V2

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The technique of titration is used to analyze for amount of acid and/or base. A
solution of accurately known concentration, called a standard solution is added
gradually to another solution of unknown concentration, until the chemical
reaction between the 2 solutions is complete.

Equivalence Point – When exactly equivalent amounts of acid and base have
reacted. Equilibrium of H+ + OH- ↔ H2O lies very far to the right, therefore
practically no H+ of OH- around and even the small amount around are equal,
therefore no excess of either one (as long as both acid & base are strong. We
will discuss other situations in Gen. Chem 2). But for sure all acid & base gone
at equivalence point. The equivalence point (basically the same as the
endpoint) is usually signaled by a change of color from a dye used as an
indicator. The most common acid-base indicator is phenolphthalein.

The calculation for a titration can be approached in a number of ways, but at this
time we will approach it as a stoichiometry problem. The difference between a
standard stoichiometry problem and the one here is that molarity (moles/liter) is
used as a conversion factor for the solutions to find moles or liters and we divide
by liters to obtain molarity. Let’s do example 4.10 on page 137.