How a saturated solution can become supersaturated ? also how do i include chemical equilibrium concepts here?

1 Answer
Feb 3, 2018

By the addition of more solute, and bringing that solute up into solution.... See here and links.

Explanation:

By definition, saturation defines an equilibrium condition, namely that the solution contains the same amount solute as would be in equilibrium with UNDISSOLVED solute...and a temperature is usually specified because a hot solution can generally hold more solute than can a cold one.

And for this we could write the expression....

#"Solid solute "rightleftharpoons" solute in solution"#

And so saturation in effect describes an equilibrium scenario in that certainly we could express this reaction as an equilibrium in the normal way....

#K_"eq"=["solute in solution"]#

On the other hand, in a supersaturated solution, the solution contains an amount of solute GREATER than that amount that would be in equilibrium with undissolved solute....