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Questions tagged [aqueous-solution]

For questions relating to compounds dissolved in water and resulting reactions and acid-base equilibria.

50 votes
1 answer
9k views

Why doesn't frozen sugar solution taste sweet?

I'll try to make this as brief as possible: Dissolved two teaspoons of table sugar (sucrose) in about 250ml water. Sipped it, and as expected it tasted sweet. I let the rest of it sit in the freezer ...
paracetamol's user avatar
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41 votes
3 answers
11k views

Which "exotic salt" can lower water's freezing point by 70 °C?

The Medium.com article Mars Phoenix Lander, 10 Years Later shows several remarkable images and discoveries on Mars by the Mars Phoenix Lander circa 2008. One image (shown below) shows what looks like ...
uhoh's user avatar
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30 votes
3 answers
30k views

Why do salts such as NaCl dissolve?

If we look at solubility of salts in water, we are told that they disassociate, because the positive $\ce{Na}$ ion is attracted to the partially negative oxygen in water and the negative $\ce{Cl}$ is ...
Gerard's user avatar
  • 3,479
29 votes
1 answer
30k views

Are all NO3- salts soluble in water? If so, why?

All the examples of $\ce{NO3-}$ salts are soluble in water (all that I know about). Is it always so or there is some salt which doesn't dissolve in water? If so what is the reason behind it?
YAHB's user avatar
  • 897
28 votes
5 answers
17k views

Why is water "the universal" solvent?

This is an old question that our textbook tried to answer but worsened the situation. Many things are soluble in water. So many, that studying solutions will always require studying aqueous ones. It ...
M.A.R.'s user avatar
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28 votes
7 answers
22k views

Why is silver chloride less soluble than silver nitrate?

Related: Reaction between silver nitrate and aluminum chloride Experimentally, $\ce{AgCl}$ is insoluble in water, but $\ce{AgNO3}$ is soluble. They're pretty common in a lab (well, $\ce{AgCl}$ is a ...
ManishEarth's user avatar
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28 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why did the Rio 2016 pool water turn green?

One of the swimming pools at Rio 2016 Olympics has turned green: While proliferation of algae is a likely culprit, there have been some alternative explanations offered by local organizers. CNN has ...
F'x's user avatar
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26 votes
4 answers
3k views

What software can calculate aqueous solution equilibria?

What software is available out there to calculate the equilibrium in a set of reactions in aqueous solution? In particular, I'm interested in software general enough to simulate things like titration ...
F'x's user avatar
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24 votes
4 answers
18k views

Can other substances be dissolved in a saturated solution?

If I have a liter of water fully saturated with sucrose would it be possible to dissolve something like salt or any other substance in the water? Or when the solution is saturated, is it impossible to ...
Samantha Clark's user avatar
23 votes
3 answers
3k views

Is "Sulfuric acid... makes a poor electrolyte... very little of it will dissociate into ions" really true? What does that actually mean?

While researching chromate conversion coating for edits to this answer in Space Exploration SE, I came upon the following passage in Corrosion Resistance of Stainless Steel to Sulfuric Acid Sulfuric ...
uhoh's user avatar
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22 votes
2 answers
5k views

pH probe bulb - what is happening within the glass?

I am trying to understand how the glass bulb of a pH electrode of a pH meter works - the glass bulb itself. Not the reference electrode or the rest of the electrode (HCl, Ag/AgCl wire, etc...), the ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 5,900
21 votes
2 answers
28k views

Why does solubility of solids sometimes decrease with temperature increase?

Recently I was researching $\ce{Ca(OH)_2}$, and I found this on Wikipedia: \begin{array}{|c|l|}\hline {\rm \color{blue}{Solubility~in~water}} & {\mathrm{0.189\,g/100\,mL}\ (0\,^\circ\mathrm{...
ParaH2's user avatar
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20 votes
3 answers
15k views

Why copper(I) is unstable in aqueous medium?

I am expecting that $\ce{Cu+}$ attains a $\mathrm d^{10}$ configuration by losing one electron from s-subshell. Since it has fully filled d-orbital, it should be stable. But it is found that it is ...
Nilay Ghosh's user avatar
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20 votes
2 answers
1k views

Hydration of H⁺ ion

I know that $\ce{H+}$ is not possible in water and it is present as $\ce{H3O+}$. But later on I come to know that even $\ce{H3O+}$ is not possible and that it is present as $\ce{H9O4+}$. Why does this ...
Ashu's user avatar
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19 votes
3 answers
60k views

Why there is no change in water level when salt is added?

Let us say we have one glass of water and after that when we add one or two spoon of salt then we notice that salt dissolves in it but when we measure the water level we found that there is no ...
Shashank's user avatar
  • 1,491
19 votes
1 answer
5k views

Why does the graph of the electrical conductivity of sulfuric acid/water solutions have this knee in the ~85%-~92% range?

This answer to an earlier question regarding the electrical conductivity of sulfuric acid provides a graph showing the conductivity of sulfuric acid/water mixtures ranging from 0% to 100% sulfuric ...
Vikki's user avatar
  • 489
19 votes
1 answer
889 views

Deliquescence/efflorescence: How can I convert between salt concentration and RH?

I am looking at two phase diagrams, one has axes of $T$ and $\%\ce{MgClO4}$ in a $\ce{H2O-MgClO4}$ mix, and the other has axes of $T$ and relative humidity. The authors of the second phase diagram say ...
E Kite's user avatar
  • 199
18 votes
4 answers
54k views

How much can the pH change through dilution?

Consider an acidic solution with Hydrogen ion concentration, $\ce{[H+]}$ of $10^{-5}\:\mathrm{M}$. Since $\:\mathrm{pH} = -\log \ce{[H+]}$ the $\:\mathrm{pH}$ of solution is $5$. Suppose we dilute ...
CrownedEagle's user avatar
18 votes
3 answers
1k views

Why doesn't the boiling point of an aqueous solution depend on intermolecular attraction?

I understand that boiling point is a colligative property for aqueous solutions, and that it empirically depends on the mole fraction of the solute, rather than the identity of the solute. I ...
user5434's user avatar
  • 549
16 votes
2 answers
24k views

Why does hand sanitizer turn into a liquid after coming out of the bottle?

Hand sanitizer is a gel in its bottle, but when I pour it on my palm, it turns into a free flowing liquid. Why does that happen? It doesn't turn to a liquid when I pour it on my floor or my table. ...
duci9y's user avatar
  • 271
15 votes
5 answers
5k views

Is it possible to achieve a level of "truly zero" concentration? [duplicate]

If we take some aqueous solution and dilute it further and further, will the concentration of the solution ever get to zero? I would say no, simply because total dilution implies that all the ...
Stephen Muga's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
55k views

If caffeine is an alkaloid, why is coffee acidic?

I have just put together on my mind these two facts: caffeine is an alkaloid and brewed coffee is slightly acidic (pH = 5). My Biology teacher and my Chemistry teacher could not elaborate satisfying ...
Dela Corte's user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
18k views

Copper Chloride: neutralizing and disposal

I plan on etching some PCBs with hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide, which will therefore produce some kind of copper chloride (green color) which is highly toxic if released into the ...
user51166's user avatar
  • 457
14 votes
1 answer
10k views

Why does Mg react vigorously in NaCl solution and less so in water?

When you put $\ce{Mg}$ into water a few $\ce{H2}$ bubbles appear. But when you put $\ce{Mg}$ into a $\ce{NaCl}$ solution there is a vigorous release of $\ce{H2}$, why is this and what reactions are ...
ray's user avatar
  • 141
13 votes
4 answers
7k views

Why is it not dangerous to dissolve NaCl?

$$\ce{H2O~(l) + NaCl~(s) ->[\Delta] Na+~(aq) + Cl^{-}~(aq)}$$ When table salt is placed in water, it dissolves due to the polarity of water molecules. When solvation takes place, negatively polar ...
Daniel's user avatar
  • 369
13 votes
2 answers
9k views

Why are synthetic pH indicators used over natural indicators?

Synthetic indicators seem to be exclusively used when determining the pH of a substance with an indicator (with the exception of that school experiment where you boil cabbage to demonstrate natural pH ...
Patrick Shway's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
10k views

Should bromine water be called a solution?

Bromine water is a reagent which is used to test for unsaturation in organic compound. It is $2.8~\%$ bromine in water. In many places, it is refer to as bromine solution. But it is observed that ...
Nilay Ghosh's user avatar
  • 26.3k
13 votes
2 answers
8k views

Why does the ionic product of water remain constant after addition of non-neutral solute?

In my textbook, it is given that the ionic product of water $K_\mathrm{w}$ remains constant even when a non-neutral solute such as an acid is added to it. $$K_\mathrm{w} = \ce{[H3O+][OH-]}$$ When a ...
Gaurav's user avatar
  • 295
13 votes
3 answers
2k views

Do electrons really hang around the electrode while ions go take a swim?

This answer to this post addresses "what happens if you dip a single zinc electrode into some electrolyte solution." It explains that However, though the zinc ion can diffuse through the ...
Buck Thorn's user avatar
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13 votes
2 answers
746 views

Do azeotropic mixtures evaporate proportionally?

Do azeotropes evaporate, without boiling, in proportionate amounts, or does this property describe their behaviour only at boiling point? Concretely, if 91% isopropyl alcohol/water (by volume, i.e. an ...
OJFord's user avatar
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