This video shows a the experiment testing the conductivity of NaCl and sugar. NaCl is an example of a strong electrolyte,

NaCl(s) --H2O--> Na+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

Sugur does not conduct electricity, C12H22O11(s) --H2O--> C12H22O11(aq)

This is an animation of NaCl dissolving in water as viewed from the particulate level.

NaCl is an example of a soluble ionic compound.

Ionic compounds are made up of ions. In this case the ions are Na+ and Cl-.


Some substances that are covalent compounds when dissolved in water are strong electrolytes, or weak electrolytes.

Binary acids, such as HCl, are examples of covalent compounds that completely dissociate when added to water.

HCl(g) --H2O--> H+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

Some acids, like acetic acid, HC2H3O2, are weak electrolytes. Such substances form a few ions. Since acetic acid is 95% in the molecular form (5% ions) we represent acetic acid as, HC2H3O2(aq) in equations.

Here is an example of two precitation reactions.

In the first example a solution labeled NaCl(aq) and a solution labeled AgNO3(aq) are mixed.

In the second example a solution labeled NaI(aq) and a solution labeled AgNO3(aq) are mixed.

This is an example of a single replacement reaction between Cu metal and silver nitrate.

Solution formation by dilution

Solution formation by dilution