Chemistry I / Solubility Equilibria
Practice question · Fill in the blanks

Complete the explanation of why two solubility products cannot be compared directly.

For a 1:1 salt the solubility product equals ______, but for an A2B\mathrm{A_2B} salt it equals ______. Because the two are different functions of the solubility, silver chromate can have the ______ constant while being the ______ soluble of the two.

Word bank: s squared · 4s cubed · smaller · more · larger

Hints
  1. Write out each expression in terms of the molar solubility s.
  2. Cubing a number below one drives it much lower than squaring it does.
Show the answer

For a 1:1 salt the solubility product equals s squared, but for an A2B\mathrm{A_2B} salt it equals 4s cubed. Because the two are different functions of the solubility, silver chromate can have the smaller constant while being the more soluble of the two.

Why

For AgCl, Ksp=s2K_{sp} = s^2; for Ag2CrO4\mathrm{Ag_2CrO_4}, Ksp=4s3K_{sp} = 4s^3. Cubing a small solubility pushes the constant far lower for the same amount dissolved, so only solubilities computed from the constants are comparable, never the constants themselves.

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