Electrolytes represent compounds that conduct electricity when entering their ionic forms when dissolved or melted. Recall that conductivity is a physical property that deals with the ability of an electrical current to flow through a material. If we're going to talk about different types of electrolytes, let's start with the strong ones. They represent solutes that completely dissociate into ions when placed in a solvent, typically water. A great example of a strong electrolyte is sodium chloride in solid form. When placed in water, it breaks up completely into its 2 ions, which are sodium ion aqueous, plus chloride ion aqueous. Remember, the aqueous just means that water is surrounding that particular ion. And remember also that we're going to make 100% of both of these ions. Strong electrolytes can represent aqueous soluble ionic compounds, which we learned through the solubility rules, strong acids, as well as strong bases. Now let's look at classifications of this type of electrolyte. The type of electrolyte, of course, is strong. Its degree of dissociation, we're going to say that it completely dissociates, so it breaks up 100%. Because of this, what are the species in solution? Well, the solid form no longer exists. It's been entirely converted into ions. And then conductivity, yes. Because it breaks up into ions, those ions can conduct electricity. Great examples of soluble ionic compounds would be sodium chloride, sodium nitrate, potassium bromide, magnesium chloride. These are based on our understanding of the solubility rules. So, if you haven't watched my videos in terms of them, I highly suggest you go back and take a look. Next are strong acids. And there are a lot of different strong acids. These are the most important ones that you keep in mind. We have hydro, hydrobromic acid, hydrochloric acid, hydroiodic acid, nitric acid, perchloric acid, and sulfuric acid. Strong bases, strong bases we have sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, lithium hydroxides. These are some basic examples of strong bases. We'll go into greater detail in terms of other strong bases for now, but these are three great examples. So just remember, strong electrolytes break up completely into ions and therefore those ions are good conductors of electricity.
- 1. Matter and Measurements4h 31m
- What is Chemistry?5m
- The Scientific Method10m
- Classification of Matter16m
- States of Matter8m
- Physical & Chemical Changes19m
- Chemical Properties8m
- Physical Properties5m
- Intensive vs. Extensive Properties13m
- Temperature (Simplified)9m
- Scientific Notation13m
- SI Units (Simplified)5m
- Metric Prefixes24m
- Significant Figures (Simplified)11m
- Significant Figures: Precision in Measurements7m
- Significant Figures: In Calculations19m
- Conversion Factors (Simplified)15m
- Dimensional Analysis24m
- Density12m
- Specific Gravity9m
- Density of Geometric Objects19m
- Density of Non-Geometric Objects9m
- 2. Atoms and the Periodic Table5h 23m
- The Atom (Simplified)9m
- Subatomic Particles (Simplified)12m
- Isotopes17m
- Ions (Simplified)22m
- Atomic Mass (Simplified)17m
- Atomic Mass (Conceptual)12m
- Periodic Table: Element Symbols6m
- Periodic Table: Classifications11m
- Periodic Table: Group Names8m
- Periodic Table: Representative Elements & Transition Metals7m
- Periodic Table: Elemental Forms (Simplified)6m
- Periodic Table: Phases (Simplified)8m
- Law of Definite Proportions9m
- Atomic Theory9m
- Rutherford Gold Foil Experiment9m
- Wavelength and Frequency (Simplified)5m
- Electromagnetic Spectrum (Simplified)11m
- Bohr Model (Simplified)9m
- Emission Spectrum (Simplified)3m
- Electronic Structure4m
- Electronic Structure: Shells5m
- Electronic Structure: Subshells4m
- Electronic Structure: Orbitals11m
- Electronic Structure: Electron Spin3m
- Electronic Structure: Number of Electrons4m
- The Electron Configuration (Simplified)22m
- Electron Arrangements5m
- The Electron Configuration: Condensed4m
- The Electron Configuration: Exceptions (Simplified)12m
- Ions and the Octet Rule9m
- Ions and the Octet Rule (Simplified)8m
- Valence Electrons of Elements (Simplified)5m
- Lewis Dot Symbols (Simplified)7m
- Periodic Trend: Metallic Character4m
- Periodic Trend: Atomic Radius (Simplified)7m
- 3. Ionic Compounds2h 18m
- Periodic Table: Main Group Element Charges12m
- Periodic Table: Transition Metal Charges6m
- Periodic Trend: Ionic Radius (Simplified)5m
- Periodic Trend: Ranking Ionic Radii8m
- Periodic Trend: Ionization Energy (Simplified)9m
- Periodic Trend: Electron Affinity (Simplified)8m
- Ionic Bonding6m
- Naming Monoatomic Cations6m
- Naming Monoatomic Anions5m
- Polyatomic Ions25m
- Naming Ionic Compounds11m
- Writing Formula Units of Ionic Compounds7m
- Naming Ionic Hydrates6m
- Naming Acids18m
- 4. Molecular Compounds2h 18m
- Covalent Bonds6m
- Naming Binary Molecular Compounds6m
- Molecular Models4m
- Bonding Preferences6m
- Lewis Dot Structures: Neutral Compounds (Simplified)8m
- Multiple Bonds4m
- Multiple Bonds (Simplified)6m
- Lewis Dot Structures: Multiple Bonds10m
- Lewis Dot Structures: Ions (Simplified)8m
- Lewis Dot Structures: Exceptions (Simplified)12m
- Resonance Structures (Simplified)5m
- Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Theory (Simplified)4m
- Electron Geometry (Simplified)8m
- Molecular Geometry (Simplified)11m
- Bond Angles (Simplified)11m
- Dipole Moment (Simplified)15m
- Molecular Polarity (Simplified)7m
- 5. Classification & Balancing of Chemical Reactions3h 17m
- Chemical Reaction: Chemical Change5m
- Law of Conservation of Mass5m
- Balancing Chemical Equations (Simplified)13m
- Solubility Rules16m
- Molecular Equations18m
- Types of Chemical Reactions12m
- Complete Ionic Equations18m
- Calculate Oxidation Numbers15m
- Redox Reactions17m
- Spontaneous Redox Reactions8m
- Balancing Redox Reactions: Acidic Solutions17m
- Balancing Redox Reactions: Basic Solutions17m
- Balancing Redox Reactions (Simplified)13m
- Galvanic Cell (Simplified)16m
- 6. Chemical Reactions & Quantities2h 37m
- 7. Energy, Rate and Equilibrium3h 45m
- Nature of Energy5m
- First Law of Thermodynamics7m
- Endothermic & Exothermic Reactions7m
- Bond Energy14m
- Thermochemical Equations12m
- Heat Capacity19m
- Thermal Equilibrium (Simplified)8m
- Hess's Law23m
- Rate of Reaction11m
- Energy Diagrams12m
- Chemical Equilibrium7m
- The Equilibrium Constant14m
- Le Chatelier's Principle23m
- Solubility Product Constant (Ksp)17m
- Spontaneous Reaction10m
- Entropy (Simplified)9m
- Gibbs Free Energy (Simplified)18m
- 8. Gases, Liquids and Solids3h 25m
- Pressure Units6m
- Kinetic Molecular Theory14m
- The Ideal Gas Law18m
- The Ideal Gas Law Derivations13m
- The Ideal Gas Law Applications6m
- Chemistry Gas Laws16m
- Chemistry Gas Laws: Combined Gas Law12m
- Standard Temperature and Pressure14m
- Dalton's Law: Partial Pressure (Simplified)13m
- Gas Stoichiometry18m
- Intermolecular Forces (Simplified)19m
- Intermolecular Forces and Physical Properties11m
- Atomic, Ionic and Molecular Solids10m
- Heating and Cooling Curves30m
- 9. Solutions4h 10m
- Solutions6m
- Solubility and Intermolecular Forces18m
- Solutions: Mass Percent6m
- Percent Concentrations10m
- Molarity18m
- Osmolarity15m
- Parts per Million (ppm)13m
- Solubility: Temperature Effect8m
- Intro to Henry's Law4m
- Henry's Law Calculations12m
- Dilutions12m
- Solution Stoichiometry14m
- Electrolytes (Simplified)13m
- Equivalents11m
- Molality15m
- The Colligative Properties15m
- Boiling Point Elevation16m
- Freezing Point Depression9m
- Osmosis16m
- Osmotic Pressure9m
- 10. Acids and Bases3h 29m
- Acid-Base Introduction11m
- Arrhenius Acid and Base6m
- Bronsted Lowry Acid and Base18m
- Acid and Base Strength17m
- Ka and Kb12m
- The pH Scale19m
- Auto-Ionization9m
- pH of Strong Acids and Bases9m
- Acid-Base Equivalents14m
- Acid-Base Reactions7m
- Gas Evolution Equations (Simplified)6m
- Ionic Salts (Simplified)23m
- Buffers25m
- Henderson-Hasselbalch Equation16m
- Strong Acid Strong Base Titrations (Simplified)10m
- 11. Nuclear Chemistry56m
- BONUS: Lab Techniques and Procedures1h 38m
- BONUS: Mathematical Operations and Functions47m
- 12. Introduction to Organic Chemistry1h 34m
- 13. Alkenes, Alkynes, and Aromatic Compounds2h 12m
- 14. Compounds with Oxygen or Sulfur1h 6m
- 15. Aldehydes and Ketones1h 1m
- 16. Carboxylic Acids and Their Derivatives1h 11m
- 17. Amines38m
- 18. Amino Acids and Proteins1h 51m
- 19. Enzymes1h 37m
- 20. Carbohydrates1h 46m
- Intro to Carbohydrates4m
- Classification of Carbohydrates4m
- Fischer Projections4m
- Enantiomers vs Diastereomers8m
- D vs L Enantiomers8m
- Cyclic Hemiacetals8m
- Intro to Haworth Projections4m
- Cyclic Structures of Monosaccharides11m
- Mutarotation4m
- Reduction of Monosaccharides10m
- Oxidation of Monosaccharides7m
- Glycosidic Linkage14m
- Disaccharides7m
- Polysaccharides7m
- 21. The Generation of Biochemical Energy2h 8m
- 22. Carbohydrate Metabolism2h 22m
- 23. Lipids2h 26m
- Intro to Lipids6m
- Fatty Acids25m
- Physical Properties of Fatty Acids6m
- Waxes4m
- Triacylglycerols12m
- Triacylglycerol Reactions: Hydrogenation8m
- Triacylglycerol Reactions: Hydrolysis13m
- Triacylglycerol Reactions: Oxidation7m
- Glycerophospholipids15m
- Sphingomyelins13m
- Steroids15m
- Cell Membranes7m
- Membrane Transport10m
- 24. Lipid Metabolism1h 45m
- 25. Protein and Amino Acid Metabolism1h 37m
- 26. Nucleic Acids and Protein Synthesis2h 55m
- Intro to Nucleic Acids4m
- Nitrogenous Bases16m
- Nucleoside and Nucleotide Formation9m
- Naming Nucleosides and Nucleotides13m
- Phosphodiester Bond Formation7m
- Primary Structure of Nucleic Acids11m
- Base Pairing10m
- DNA Double Helix6m
- Intro to DNA Replication20m
- Steps of DNA Replication11m
- Types of RNA10m
- Overview of Protein Synthesis4m
- Transcription: mRNA Synthesis9m
- Processing of pre-mRNA5m
- The Genetic Code7m
- Introduction to Translation7m
- Translation: Protein Synthesis18m
Electrolytes (Simplified) - Online Tutor, Practice Problems & Exam Prep
![](/channels/images/AIStars.png)
Electrolytes are compounds that conduct electricity when dissolved or melted, categorized into strong, weak, and nonelectrolytes. Strong electrolytes, like sodium chloride, fully dissociate into ions, enhancing conductivity. Weak electrolytes, such as hydrofluoric acid, partially dissociate, resulting in limited ion formation and conductivity. Nonelectrolytes, like glucose, do not dissociate into ions and therefore do not conduct electricity. Understanding these distinctions is crucial for grasping concepts in acid-base chemistry and solution properties.
Electrolytes are compounds that can conduct electricity once they are dissolved in a solvent.
Understanding Electrolytes
Whenever you add a solute to a solvent there are three possible outcomes:the solute dissolves completely, dissolves partially or doesn't dissolve at all into ions.
Electrolytes (Simplified) Concept 1
Video transcript
Strong Electrolytes break up into ions completely and are grouped into 3 categories:Soluble Ionic Compounds, Strong Acids and Strong Bases.
Electrolytes (Simplified) Example 1
Video transcript
Write a balanced equation for the dissociation of the following strong electrolyte in water. So here we have iron(III) nitrate. So here we're going to have iron(III) nitrate as a solid. It's going to break up in water. Since it's a strong electrolyte, we have a solid arrow going forward. It breaks up into our iron(III) ion, aqueous, plus 3 nitrate ions, aqueous. This here would represent the balanced equation for this particular strong electrolyte.
Fe 3 (NO 3 ) 3 (s) → Fe 3 + (aq) + 3 NO 3 − (aq)Electrolytes (Simplified) Concept 2
Video transcript
Now, weak electrolytes represent solutes that partially dissolve. They partially dissolve into ions when placed in a solvent. Here we have HF. HF is hydrofluoric acid, which is a weak acid. Acids are typically found in their aqueous form in solution. Here, it's going to break up into the H+ ion aqueous plus F- ion aqueous. Realize here that we see a double arrow here, this reversible arrow. This indicates that we have a weak electrolyte. So, if you're ever looking at a balanced equation and you see a double arrow or reversible arrow like this, that means that this is a weak electrolyte.
Now, weak electrolytes can be either insoluble ionic compounds. Yes. Even insoluble ionic compounds break up a little bit. Weak acids or weak bases. So here, let's take a look at the classifications of electrolytes. We already went over the strong electrolytes earlier. If you haven't looked at that video, make sure you go back and take a look. Now let's look at your weak electrolyte. Your weak electrolytes don't dissociate completely, they dissociate partially. Because they only partially dissociate, it's mostly molecules and only some ions. So if we look up above, we would say that for this weak electrolyte of hydrofluoric acid, a vast majority of it would stay in this form of a HF aqueous, and very little of these ions would actually be formed. So a vast majority of it is still on the reactant side of the equation.
Now, conductivity, we're going to say is weak. Weak because we don't make very many of those ions on the product side. Here we have, in green, our insoluble ionic compounds like calcium sulfate, barium sulfate, and calcium sulfide. These are just some examples of insoluble ionic compounds based on our understanding of the solubility rules. Great examples of weak acids are hydrofluoric acid, which we saw up above, and acetic acid. And then some great examples of weak bases are magnesium hydroxide and ammonia. Now, these are not the only weak acids or weak bases. These are just some great examples of weak acids and weak bases which we can classify as weak electrolytes. So just keep in mind the differences between strong electrolytes and weak electrolytes.
Weak Electrolytes partially break up into ions and are grouped into 3 categories:Insoluble Ionic Compounds, Weak Acids and Weak Bases.
Electrolytes (Simplified) Example 2
Electrolytes (Simplified) Concept 3
Video transcript
So nonelectrolytes consist of molecular or covalent compounds that don't dissociate into ions. Here we have a good example of glucose solid. Even after placing it in water, it doesn't break up. It's still altogether as glucose, But it's still being surrounded by water, so you can still say it's aqueous. Now examples of other non-electrolytes include water, sugars like glucose, and alcohols, and other non-ionic compounds. Now when I say sugars, sugars are just compounds with the molecular formula of CnH2nOn. Okay? So here glucose we saw C6H12O6. Sucrose deviates a little bit from this. Sucrose is C12H22O11. Glucose and sucrose are the most famous of the sugars that you'll most likely see when dealing with non-electrolytes.
Alcohols are just covalent compounds with carbon and hydrogen connected to OH. Methanol is CH3OH. Phenol is C6H5OH. A key thing to recognize in alcohol is that they end with the word "ol". Methanol, phenol. Now, we've talked about strong electrolytes. We've talked about weak electrolytes. But what about non-electrolytes? Now, their degree of dissociation is: they don't dissociate, so we're going to say no dissociation. They don't break up into ions at all, so it's only molecules. And because they don't break up into ions at all, they don't conduct electricity. Sucrose is a great example besides glucose as being nonelectrolyte. Here we have an alcohol in the case of methanol. We also have these other structures here. We have water, hydrogen peroxide. We also have CH4N2O, which is just an example of a molecular or covalent compound. So just remember, non-electrolytes don't break up into ions whatsoever, and therefore, they cannot conduct electricity like strong and weak electrolytes can.
Non-Electrolytes do NOT break up into ions at all and are commonly referred to as molecular compounds.
Electrolytes (Simplified) Example 3
Video transcript
The dissolution of a compound is given by the reaction below. Here we have a white sphere and a black sphere, and they break up into separate spheres, which represent their ions. Now identify each of the following solutions as either electrolytic, weakly electrolytic, or non-electrolytic. So if we take a look, something that's electrolytic is strong, that means it would break up 100% into these ions. If we take a look here, the only one that shows us separate white spheres and black spheres where everything is completely broken apart is the last one. So this would be electrolytic. For the next one, we have weakly electrolytic and non-electrolytic. Weakly electrolytic would have more of these intact, but would also have some of these floating around as well. If we take a look, that would be the middle one. So this one is weakly electrolytic. And non-electrolytic, none of these ions would form and they would all exist in this molecular form here, and that would be the first one. So the first one will be non-electrolytic.
Each of the following reactions depicts a solute dissolving in water. Classify each solute as a strong electrolyte, a weak electrolyte or a non-electrolyte.
Problem Transcript
Which of the following represents a non-electrolyte?
a) (CH3)2NH2 b) NaOH c) HIO3 d) C2H5OH e) CsNH2
Do you want more practice?
Your GOB Chemistry tutor
- KF is a strong electrolyte, and HF is a weak electrolyte. How is the solution of KF different from that of HF?
- Write a balanced equation for the dissociation of each of the following strong electrolytes in water: d. Fe(N...
- Indicate whether aqueous solutions of each of the following solutes contain only ions, only molecules, or most...
- Indicate whether aqueous solutions of each of the following solutes contain only ions, only molecules, or most...
- Indicate whether aqueous solutions of each of the following solutes contain only ions, only molecules, or most...
- Classify the solute represented in each of the following equations as a strong, weak, or nonelectrolyte: b. N...
- Classify the solute represented in each of the following equations as a strong, weak, or nonelectrolyte: a. K...
- What is an electrolyte?
- Select the diagram that represents the solution formed by a solute that is a (9.2) c. strong electrolyte
- Select the diagram that represents the solution formed by a solute that is a (9.2) a. nonelectrolyte