Electrolytes Essay Example For Students

Electrolytes Essay Electrolytes are liquids that conduct electricity. Mostneed to be dissolved into water or another solvent. Battery’s have an electrolyte in them, either as a liquid oras a paste. Liquid electrolytes are used in electrolysis,electroplating, and other chemical processes. When electrolytes dissolve they release positive andnegative ions. The released ions carry electric chargesbetween electrodes, in the solution. Cations (a positivelycharged ion that migrates to the cathode, a negativeelectrode) carry positive electric charges toward thecathode. Anions carry negative electric charges toward theStrong electrolytes release many ions and conductelectricity well. Weak electrolytes, like acetic acid,don’t release many ions and conduct poorly. Nonelectrolytes, like sugar, release no ions and form nonA couple electrolytes conduct electricity as solids. These solid electrolytes have ions that can move and carryThere are two ways to be able to have ions that areable to conduct electricity, the dissociation of IonicCompounds, and the Ionization of Polar Covalent MolecularThe Dissociation of Ionic Compounds is where particlesare ionically (electrically) bonded together. They alreadymade out of cations and anions, but in their solid state theions are locke d into position in their crystal structure,and can’t move around. When the ionic compound is dissolvedinto water the water molecules, which are polar,(having apositive and a negative end) will be attracted to thepositive ions. This attraction of different charges willcreate tension in the crystal and it will overcome theattice (the arrangement of molecules in a crystalline solid)energy keeping the crystal in place. Once this happens thecations will be surrounded by water molecules, and so willthe anions. This is called the solution process. Thismakes a lower order of organization of the ions. The ionsare now in a simpler form so they have higher mobility, andcan carry electrical particles to conduct electricity. Salts that are completely dissolvable in water areusually strong electrolytes. The salts that are barelydissolvable are weak. The strength of an electrolyte ismeasured by its ability to conduct electricity. There’s also the way of Ionization of Polar CovalentMolecular Substances. Polar molecular substances aresubstances whose atoms are co-valently bonded. Eachmolecule has a net molecular dipole moment (the product ofthe distance between two poles of a dipole and the magnitudeor either pole) that is made because of the dipole momentsof the bonds do not cancel each other out. This dipolemoment makes each dipole having a positive and negative endto the molecule. If the molecules are small enough, polarwater molecules can line up around the polar moleculesattracted to the negative ends and vise versa. Thisattraction is called intermolecular force, This force canovercome the dissociation energy of a bond within the polarmolecule. The dissociation energy is the least amount ofenergy needed to break a bond between two atoms. If thishappens then the polar molecule will fragment with thebroken bond. This will make ions where there wasn’t any tobegin with. This is called ionization, and will end up withions in the molecule promoting electrical current flow. Ifthe bonds within the molecule are easier to break by thewater molecules then the degree of ionization will begreater. More current will be conducted. These are strongElectrolytes are needed for the regulation of bodyfluids, and the transmission of electrical impulses. Theyare lost through perspiration, and have to be replaced. There is no daily recommendation because they’re so abundantBibliography: