Ionic product of Water
Water is a weak electrolyte and undergoes selfionistion to a small extent.
“The product of concentrations of and
ions in water at a particular temperature is known as ionic product of water.” It is designated as
.
⇌
;
;
;
The value of increases with the increase of temperature, i.e., the concentration H+ and OH– ions increases with increase in temperature.
The value of at
is
mole/litre. Since pure water is neutral in nature,
ion concentration must be equal to
ion concentration.
or
or
or
This shows that at , in 1 litre only
mole of water is in ionic form out of a total of approximately 55.5 moles.
Thus when, ; the solution is neutral
; the solution is acidic
; the solution is basic