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Chemistry · Ch 3 — Ionic Equilibria

Strong electrolyte

3.2.1

Strong electrolyte

The electrolytes ionizing completely or almost completely are strong electrolytes. For example : strong acids, strong bases and salts.

Because ionization is essentially complete, a solution of a strong electrolyte contains practically no un-ionized molecules — it is made up of ions. The ionization of a strong electrolyte is therefore written with a single forward arrow, not the double equilibrium arrow used for weak electrolytes. Strong acids such as HCl, H2SO4\mathrm{H_2SO_4} and HNO3\mathrm{HNO_3}, strong bases such as NaOH and KOH, and salts such as NaCl and CH3COONa\mathrm{CH_3COONa} all belong to this clas …