The Ion That Was Already in the Water

You'll learnwhy an ion already in the water makes a salt dissolve far less.

Two beakers, the same silver chloride, the same temperature — and one of them dissolves thousands of times less than the other. The only difference is an ion that was in the water before the salt arrived. Twelve short steps; press Next for each one.

12 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · AgCl(s) ⇌ Ag⁺ + Cl⁻ · K_sp = 1.8×10⁻¹⁰ · v4

an ion that was in the water first · and how much less dissolves

Before you start

What you're looking at

Two beakers of silver chloride at 25 °C: one in pure water, one in 0.10 M sodium chloride.

The question

Same salt, same temperature. Why does one of them dissolve thousands of times less?

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