ELECTROLYTIC SOLUTIONS IN VARIOUS SOLVENTS 55 



yields the value of A while, obviously, the value of K results from the 

 slope of the curve. 



Leaving aside for the moment the exact values of A , we may roughly 

 compare the variation of the function K for solutions in different solvents. 

 In Table XXI 13 are given the values of this function for potassium 

 nitrate dissolved in ammonia and in water at corresponding degrees of 

 ionization. 



TABLE XXI. 



VALUES OF K FOR SOLUTIONS OF KN0 3 IN NH 3 AND H 2 O. . 



57.00 0.2277 1.279 



70.00 0.197 0.9528 



85.59 0.167 0.3389 



91.66 0.1635 0.2332 



94.30 0.1699 0.1710 



It is at once apparent that the variation of the function K in dilute am- 

 monia solutions is much less than it is in aqueous solutions. Indeed, 

 between the ionization values of 70% and 94% the value of the con- 

 ductance function for potassium nitrate in ammonia changes only by a 

 few per cent, whereas, in aqueous solutions, this function increases ap- 

 proximately five times. Apparently, therefore, dilute solutions in am- 

 monia approach the mass-action law much more nearly than do solutions 

 of the same substances in water. 



A circumstance which greatly facilitates the study of the applicability 

 of the mass-action law to dilute solutions in non-aqueous solvents is the 

 relatively low ionization of the solutions in these solvents. In the case 

 of the strong electrolytes in water, a comparison of the experimental re- 

 sults with the mass-action law is rendered difficult by the high ionization 

 of these salts. Since the expression 1 y, the value of the un-ionized 

 fraction, appears in the denominator of the mass-action expression, and 

 since y is very nearly unity, it follows that the equivalent conductance 

 must be determined with a high degree of precision in order to determine 

 the applicability of the mass-action function. It is only in the case of 

 potassium chloride that sufficiently precise data are at hand to make a 

 study of this kind possible in aqueous solutions, and even in this case the 

 results of such a comparison remain uncertain. 



Only a small portion of the data relating to the conductance of non- 

 aqueous solutions has sufficient precision to make a comparison with the 

 consequences of the mass-action law possible. It is only in the case of 



u Franklin and Kraus, Am. Chem. J. 3 f 299 (1900). 



