Dissolution of AgCl(s)

Question

I am very confused about this problem - I was given the information that AgCl is insoluble in water, and then told to write the equation for the dissolution of AgCl(s) in water. I am super confused about how to go about this. In parentheses, my teacher added (aqueous solution, net ionic) - I am not quite sure what this means, though. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

So, anytime you have an insoluble salt, you can write the dissolution equation showing the equilibrium between the solid and the aqueous species. Insoluble doesn't mean that none of the material dissolves. It simply means that a small amount dissolves, and this is indicated by the Ksp (solubility product). So, for AgCl, we can write the following, when it is placed in water...

AgCl(s) <==>Ag⁺(aq) + Cl^-(aq) ... equation for dissolution of AgCl

That's it. And by the way, Ksp for AgCl = [Ag⁺][Cl^-]