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Solubility Curve

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Last updated date: 17th Apr 2024
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Introduction to Solubility Curve

Solubility curve is basically a data-based curve that is going to inform you about the amount of solute that will dissolve in a given amount of solvent at different temperatures. The most typical graphs or solubility curves are the ones that are based on the solid and gaseous solutes that are particularly dissolved in 100 grams of water.


What is Solubility?

Solubility is known as the maximum amount of solute which will dissolve in a given amount of solvent at a specific given temperature and pressure. 

There are three different kinds of solutions which will result depending on how much of a particular solute is dissolved in the solvent.

As explained above, the solubility curve is the comparison of the amount of solute dissolved in a given amount of solvent at different temperatures. Here in this article,you will learn about the solubility curve in detail, which will provide you with all the basic information, including solubility rules chart, definition of solubility curve, graph of solubility, some problems of solubility curve and the main that is the importance if this solubility curve.


Solubility Curve Definition

The solubility curve definition chemistry is given as below:

The variation in the solubility of a given substance with the change of temperature is presented by the solubility curve. The solubility curve is the curved line that is drawn on the graph that shows the relationship between the temperature and the solubility of the substance at varying temperatures.

The graphical relationship between the solubility and the temperature is known as the solubility curve. The solubility curve determines the changes of the solubility of a solid at variable temperatures in a solvent. On the graph, the variations in temperature are to be plotted on the x-axis and the solubility is plotted on the y-axis. Temperature plays an important role in solubility since the solubility of a given substance is different at varying temperatures.


Solubility Graph

Let us now look at how the solubility graph looks. The solubility graph is shown as follows:


(Image to be Uploaded soon)


How to read the Solubility Curve?

The solubility curve line shows you with a saturated solution. Saturated solution is basically the one with a full dissolved volume of solute in 100 grams of water. Any sim below this line is going to indicate the unsaturated solution. And all the solutions above this line shows you about the supersaturated solution. 

Unsaturated Solution:  An Unsaturated solution is the one that contains less amount of solute as compared to the maximum amount of solute that is capable of being dissolved for forming a solution. If more solute is added and it does not dissolve then the original solute is saturated and if more solution is added and it is dissolved then the original solution is considered to be an unsaturated one that is going to be shown below the line of solubility curve.

Supersaturated Solution: A chemical solution is considered as the supersaturated one only when the concentration of the solute in the solution exceeds the concentrations that is specified by the value equilibrium solubility. A supersaturated solution is basically in the metastable state. Any supersaturated solution can be brought back to its normal equilibrium state by forcing the excess solution to remove or separate from the solution.


Solubility Rules Chart

  • The general rules of solubility are given below. Let us look at each one of them and what they are.Most of the chloride salts are soluble. However, there are some exceptions like \[PbCl_{2}\], \[Hg_{2}Cl_{2}\] and \[AgCl\] .

  • The salts of \[Na^{+}, K^{+}\] and \[NH_{4}^{+}\] are all soluble.

  • All the sulfate salts are soluble. However, there are some exceptions which include \[BaSO_{4}, CaSO_{4}\] and \[PbSO_{4}\].

  • Almost all the nitrate (\[NO^{3-}\]) salts are soluble.

  • Almost all the hydroxide compounds are hardly soluble. The important exceptions in this category are NaOH and KOH. Barium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide, however, are moderately soluble.All the salts of sulfide, phosphate and carbonate are hardly soluble.


Importance of Solubility Curve 

The solubility curve is used for determining the amount of substance that is deposited when the solution is cooled. Solubilities of different substances at a given temperature can be determined. The importance of solubility curves is discussed as follows.

  • Firstly, the solubility curve will help you to predict which substance  crystallizes first from the solutions containing two or more solutes. Depending upon their solubility in the solution,

  • If you are given a substance whose solubility you need to find at a particular temperature then this solubility curve helps you.

  • There is a particular solubility process for every substance at different temperatures and this curve is going to help you to find the solubility process of a substance at a given temperature.

  • At a particular temperature if you are provided with a different number of substances then this solubility curve will help you to find the solubility at the same temperature.

  • This solution will not only provide you information about the saturation of a given substance but heside this it also provides with the information of supersaturated and unsaturated solution.

  • It gives you a clear idea of the fact that the solubility of a given substance changes with the temperature.


Solubility Curve Problems

Let us now look at some of the solubility curve problems in detail and how to solve them.

Example:

A solution with a precipitate of AgCl in equilibrium consists of \[1.0  \times 10^{-3}\] mol of \[Ag^{+}/L\] and \[1.3 \times 10^{-5}\] mol of \[Cl^{-}/ L\]. determine the solubility product of \[AgCl\].

Solution: The solubility product as per the definition is the product of the concentrations of the ions that are in equilibrium with the precipitate of a sparingly soluble substance.

For \[AgCl\],

\[K_{sp} = [Ag^{+}][Cl^{-}]= (1.0 \times 10^{-3}) ( 1.3 \times 10^{-5})= 1.3 \times 10^{-15}\]


Conclusion

Vedantu has covered all the aspects of solubility curve with examples. You can practice these examples to understand practically.

FAQs on Solubility Curve

1. What are Some Examples of Solubility?

Solubility is defined as the amount of the solute that will dissolve in a particular amount of a solvent. Most solutes tend to vary with different solvents. For example, most solids and liquids increase in their solubility at higher temperatures, but in the same given situation, gasses tend to decrease in their solubility. However, drinks such as soda are bottled under pressure since gasses are more soluble in this gaseous state. When the pressure is released by a person opening the container, the carbon dioxide immediately starts to lose its solubility and begins to escape. Based on these properties, you can say that there are several examples of solubility. Salt, for example, is highly soluble in water, but it is not soluble in oil. It is possible for you to add both cream and sugar to coffee since they both are soluble in the drink. Another example of solubility lies in the air that oxygen is soluble in nitrogen. Vedantu website has covered all examples which you can download in PDF format.

2. What Do You Mean By Solubility Product?

The solubility product of a substance which is denoted by Ksp is the ratio of the concentrations at equilibrium. Molar solubility, which is directly proportional to the solubility product, is the number of moles of the solute which dissolve per liter of the solution before the solution is saturated. Once the solution is saturated, any additional solute added precipitates out of the solution. The units of the solubility product are molarity (M), or mole per liter (mol/L).

3. What is the importance of solubility?

Solubility is the phenomenon of dissolution of solute in the solvent to give a homogeneous system. It is one of the important parameters that will help you to achieve the desired concentration of drugs in systemic circulation for the most anticipated pharmacological response. For any drug it's solubility is an important physical chemical property. Solubility is one of the important parameters for detecting poorly soluble drugs. Solubility mainly plays a role in detecting drugs but they play an important role for other dosages like parenteral formulation.

4. What are the different types of solubility curves?

There is not only a single type of solubility curve but multiple types of solubility curves are observed based on different conditions. Any aqueous solution can be defined as saturated, unsaturated and supersaturated. Saturated solution is the one that has the maximum amount of solute dissolved in the particular amount of solution. Unsaturated solution is the one that have less than a particular amount of solute that can be dissolved in the solution, that is more solute can be added to it and supersaturated solution is the one, that has more solute than required in the solution and all these types of solutions are differently represented as curves in solubility graph.

5. What are the five factors that affect solubility?

Solubility of a solution is affected due to certain factors. Five factors that affect solubility of a substance are mentioned below:


Temperature:  Solubility of any substance increases with increase in substance. If you increase the temperature, more substance can be added in the solution but there are exceptions in a few cases.


Polarity:  In most cases solutes dissolve in that solvent that have the same polarity. Non-polar solutes do not dissolve in polar solvent.


Pressure: Talking about pressure then for most of the liquid and gaseous solutes there is no effect of pressure on solubility but in case of gaseous solutes there is effect of pressure.


Molecular size: The large molecules of solutes are great in weight and size. So in case of the same temperature, pressure and polarity the solute with smaller molecules is easily soluble.


Stirring increases the solubility of any solute in the solution.