Wednesday, February 10, 2010

In chemistry, why is the following statement false: Larger negative value of ';change in enthalpy'; of a?

solution contributes to an increased solubility of the solute in solvent as a function of temperature.In chemistry, why is the following statement false: Larger negative value of ';change in enthalpy'; of a?
The dissolution of a solute is a chemical reaction and as such has an equilibrium constant, Keq (if the solute is a salt, the equilibrium constant gets a special name called solubility product, Ksp). Keq is related to 鈭咷掳 by the equation


lnKeq = 鈥撯垎G掳/RT = 鈥撯垎H掳/RT + 鈭哠掳/R





If 鈭咹掳 is somehow made more negative (by switching solvents, for example), then 鈭咹掳/RT becomes more positive and lnKeq is larger - the compound will be more soluble (if 鈭哠掳 is otherwise unchanged). However, if T is increased, the CHANGE in lnKeq will be greater and 鈥撯垎H掳/RT will decrease faster as T is increased.





Qualitatively, if the process of dissolution is exothermic, then the equation I've used here says exactly what Le Chatelier's principle says - increasing the temperature will decrease the solubility.

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