Note 24 — Chapter I · ON WATER AND ITS COMPOUNDS

Gay-Lussac was the first to have recourse to such a graphic method of expressing solubility, and he considered, in accordance with the general opinion, that by joining up the summits of the ordinates in one harmonious curve it is possible to express the entire change of solubility with the temperature. Now, there are many reasons for doubting the accuracy of such an admission, for there are undoubtedly critical points in curves of solubility (for example, of sodium sulphate, as shown further on), and it may be that definite compounds of dissolved substances with water, in decomposing within known limits of temperature, give critical points more often than would be imagined; it may even be, indeed, that instead of a continuous curve, solubility should be expressed—if not always, then not unfrequently—by straight or broken lines. According to Ditte, the solubility of sodium nitrate, NaNO3, is expressed by the following figures per 100 parts of water:—

0° 4° 10° 15° 21° 29° 36° 51° 68°

66·7 71·0 76·3 80·6 85·7 92·9 99·4 113·6 125·1

In my opinion (1881) these data should be expressed with exactitude by a straight line, 67·5 + 0·87t, which entirely agrees with the results of experiment. According to this the figure expressing the solubility of salt at 0° exactly coincides with the composition of a definite chemical compound—NaNO₃,7H₂O. The experiments made by Ditte showed that all saturated solutions between 0° and -15·7° have such a composition, and that at the latter temperature the solution completely solidifies into one homogeneous whole. Between 0° and -15·7° the solution NaNO₃,7H₂O does not deposit either salt or ice. Thus the solubility of sodium nitrate is expressed by a broken straight line. In recent times (1888) Étard discovered a similar phenomenon in many of the sulphates. Brandes, in 1830, shows a diminution in solubility below 100° for manganese sulphate. The percentage by weight (i.e. per 100 parts of the solution, and not of water) of saturation for ferrous sulphate, FeSO₄, from -2° to +65° = 13·5 + 0·3784t—that is, the solubility of the salt increases. The solubility remains constant from 65° to 98° (according to Brandes the solubility then increases; this divergence of opinion requires proof), and from 98° to 150° it falls as = 104·35 - 0·6685t. Hence, at about +156° the solubility should = 0, and this has been confirmed by experiment. I observe, on my part, that Étard's formula gives 38·1 p.c. of salt at 65° and 38·8 p.c. at 92°, and this maximum amount of salt in the solution very nearly corresponds with the composition FeSO₄,14H₂O, which requires 37·6 p.c. From what has been said, it is evident that the data concerning solubility require a new method of investigation, which should have in view the entire scale of solubility—from the formation of completely solidified solutions (cryohydrates, which we shall speak of presently) to the separation of salts from their solutions, if this is accomplished at a higher temperature (for manganese and cadmium sulphates there is an entire separation, according to Étard), or to the formation of a constant solubility (for potassium sulphate the solubility, according to Étard, remains constant from 163° to 220° and equals 24·9 p.c.) (See Chapter XIV., note 50, solubility of CaCl₂.)