In: Chemistry
In addition to maintaining pH, another important consideration when generating a buffer is the ionic strength of a buffer. The ionic strength refers to the number of ions in a solution. Ions help to increase the solubility of species in a solution. How would ions increase the solubility of species in a solution? If the ionic strength of a solution is too high, the species in the solution precipitate. Why?
Ionic strength is a measure of the total ion concentration in
solution----but ions with more charge are counted more due to
stronger electrostatic interactions with other ions. Due to higher
concentration of inert ions in the solution “shields” the ions in
the equilibrium with counter-cations and counteranions in their
“ionic atmosphere” and decreases the tendency for ions to come
closer and to come together to form crystals hence increases the
solubility of the solution.
Due to very high ionic
strength salting
out phenomenon observed when the solubility of
a nonelectrolyte compound in water decreases with an increase in
the concentration of a salt. When the salt
concentration is increased, some of the water molecules are
attracted by the salt ions, which decreases the number of water
molecules available to interact with the counter ions and thus
solubility decreases .