Chemical Equations for Solutions

Now that you are familiar with the differences between electrolytes and nonelectrolytes, and also between strong and weak electrolytes, let's consider how to symbolize the process by which these solutions are formed. After that we will describe what kinds of atomic or molecular changes are taking place. Then we will take a look at how to use your understanding of the process to identify acids, bases and salts from their formulas and the ions that are formed when they go into solution.

First let's deal with symbolizing this process by writing chemical equations for dissolution reactions. You have already learned to write equations for chemical reactions and we'll be doing the same type of thing here. However, we'll be using the following additional symbols.

These symbols are written after the formula for each chemical to show what state or phase the material is in. For example when water melts it changes from solid to liquid. To show this in an equation we would write: H₂O(s) H₂O(l).

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