Chemistry troubles

[lost-and-found]

No, I'm not talking about the problem I have with bad chemistry between me and all females....not that type of chemistry I'm talking about "GENERAL CHEMISTRY" especially the part of determining whether or not the electrolite is a strong electrolite or a weak electrolite.

How does one know if the electrolite is weak or strong? I know the basic definition...if it ionizes completely then it's a strong electrolyte..etc. But in reality, when writing molecular equasions, how do I determine if the substance ionizes completely or not. For example...how do I know that NaCl is a strong electrolite without just looking for it in the book?

It's necessary for me to know in order to write net ionic equasions.

Ex:
NaOH + HCl -> NaCl + H2O molecular
Na+ + OH- + H+ + Cl- = Na+ Cl- + H2O ionic
OH- + H+ = H20 net ionic

see, I can do that if they tell me that NaCl is a strong electrolyte...but what if they don't, how do I find out?


God I'm so glad I only have to take one quarter of this....

[Gomer]

if it has big muscles it is the strong one. If it has girly-man muscles it is the weak one.

[lost-and-found]

dude, Gomer, you da man....I'm surely gonna ace that exam now

[Gomer]

answers like that have actually gotten me points on exams on occasion.

Never leave one blank! =)

[lost-and-found]

anybody?????

[lost-and-found]

oh well, I guess if no one loves me here...<sniff><sniff>...one F isn't gonna kill me....even if it's worth 35% of the grade <sniff><sniff>

[osprey4]

Sorry, didn't see this until now. Yes, absolutely, NaCl will completely dissociate. There's are several easy ways to justify this. If the conjugate acid or base is a strong acid, then the anion (in the case of an acid) or cation (in the case of the base) will dissociate 100%. The other way to justify is to look up the pK of the ions or their conjugates.

Does that help?