2.6 SOLUBILITY PRODUCT For sparingly soluble salts (ie. those of which the solubility is less than 0.01 mol per L) it is an experimental fact that the mass action product of the concentrations of the ions is a constant at constant temperature, This product K, is termed the ‘solubility product’. For a binary electrolyte: AB=A*+B™ Kyaw = [A*] x [Bo] In general, for an electrolyte A,B, which ionises into pA** and gB?~ ions: A,B, = pA** + qBP- Kyajay = [AS x [BY]? A plausible deduction of the solubility product relation is the following. When excess of a sparingly soluble electrolyte, say silver chloride, is shaken up with water, some of it passes into solution to form a saturated solution of the salt and the process appears to cease. The following equilibrium is actually present (the silver chloride is completely ionised in solution): AgCl(solid) = Ag* +C1- The rate of the forward reaction depends only upon the temperature, and at any given temperature: rn=ky where k, is a constant. The rate of the reverse reaction is proportional to the activity of each of the reactants; hence at any given temperature: 1 = ky x dg: X dg where k; is another constant. At equilibrium the two rates are equal, ie ky = ky X agg X dq, or gg X dey = ki/ky = Kangen