How a saturated solution can become supersaturated ? also how do i include chemical equilibrium concepts here?
1 Answer
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....
And so saturation in effect describes an equilibrium scenario in that certainly we could express this reaction as an equilibrium in the normal way....
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....
