Your study of acids and bases is now complete for this course. One thing you are hopefully quite familiar with at this point is the difference between strong acids and bases and weak acids and bases. Some of the differences are:
Strong acids and bases
- dissociate completely (one-way reactions)
- do not have numerical Ka, Kb
- do not need ICE tables
- do not display common ion effect
Weak acids and bases
- dissociate slightly (equilibrium reactions)
- have numerical Ka, Kb with values <<1
- need ICE tables
- display common ion effect
Strong acids and bases are examples of strong electrolytes (which ionize completely in water). Weak acids and bases are examples of weak electrolytes (which ionize slightly in water).
Salts can also be strong and weak electrolytes — you likely learned this in your first semester course. Soluble salts (according to solubility rules) are strong electrolytes. Insoluble or slightly soluble salts (according to solubility rules) are weak electrolytes.
Insoluble or slightly soluble salts, like weak acids, dissociate slightly (equilibrium reactions), have numerical K with values <<1 for their dissociations (called Ksp), need ICE tables, and display common ion effect. We will examine those properties, as well as precipitation of these insoluble salts, in this topic.
