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Topic: why can't water dissolve more NaCl after a certain point?  (Read 858 times)

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Offline Nitram2004

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why can't water dissolve more NaCl after a certain point?
« on: September 17, 2020, 03:02:14 AM »
i am wondering why water after a cirten point cant deissolve NaCl

Offline sjb

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Re: why can't water dissolve more NaCl after a certain point?
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2020, 04:10:29 AM »
At a simple level, consider filling a jar with marbles. Why can't you fit any more in after a while?

Offline Meter

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Re: why can't water dissolve more NaCl after a certain point?
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2020, 05:11:16 AM »
There is probably some really good p-chem explanation for this, but the superficial undergraduate explanation is that the solubility product of NaCl in water isn't infinitely high.

Offline Corribus

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Re: why can't water dissolve more NaCl after a certain point?
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2020, 09:01:23 AM »
When you dissolve something in water, what do you suppose happens to the water?
What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?  - Richard P. Feynman

Offline Enthalpy

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Re: why can't water dissolve more NaCl after a certain point?
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2020, 01:46:17 PM »
Dissolution competes with the opposite process, crystallisation. The rate of crystallisation increases with the concentration of solute (here NaCl). At equilibrium, both processes are equally efficient, no net dissolution occurs any more. That's the solubility.

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