How do I know whether a solution of potassium nitrate in water is saturated?
1 Answer
Can you see crystals (of potassium nitrate) at the bottom of the flask?
Explanation:
If you can, then the solution is saturated.
Saturation describes an equilibrium condition as shown:
For highly soluble solutes such as potassium nitrate, equilibrium, i.e. saturation may be hard to reach in that the salt is mighty soluble in water, and a lot of solute must be added to reach equilibrium.
We could take an excess of salt (probably around half a kilo per litre of water) heat it up and bring all the salt into solution. Upon cooling, the salt may not precipitate, and remains in solution as a
And if the solution contains LESS solute than would be in equilibrium with undissolved solute, then the solution is termed
You may think I am being unnecessarily wordy, but the definition of