{"id":248892,"date":"2025-07-08T19:41:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T19:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=248892"},"modified":"2025-07-08T19:41:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T19:41:29","slug":"determine-which-diagram-best-represents-the-ionic-compound-kso4-dissolved-in-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/08\/determine-which-diagram-best-represents-the-ionic-compound-kso4-dissolved-in-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Determine which diagram best represents the ionic compound K,SO4 dissolved in water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Determine which diagram best represents the ionic compound K,SO4 dissolved in water:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correct answer is the diagram in the bottom right<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To determine the best representation of potassium sulfate (K\u2082SO\u2084) dissolved in water, we must first understand how this ionic compound behaves in an aqueous solution. Potassium sulfate is a strong electrolyte, which means it completely dissociates, or separates, into its constituent ions when dissolved in water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chemical formula K\u2082SO\u2084 provides two critical pieces of information. First, it identifies the ions involved. The compound is made of potassium (K) and the polyatomic ion sulfate (SO\u2084). Potassium is in Group 1 of the periodic table, so it forms a cation with a +1 charge (K\u207a). The sulfate ion is a polyatomic anion with a charge of -2 (SO\u2084\u00b2\u207b). In the diagrams, the small grey spheres with a single plus sign represent the K\u207a cations, and the larger brownish spheres with a “2-” represent the SO\u2084\u00b2\u207b anions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, the subscripts in the formula indicate the ratio of these ions. The subscript ‘2’ next to K means that for every one formula unit of K\u2082SO\u2084 that dissolves, two potassium ions (2K\u207a) and one sulfate ion (SO\u2084\u00b2\u207b) are released into the solution. Therefore, the correct diagram must show a 2:1 ratio of K\u207a ions to SO\u2084\u00b2\u207b ions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s evaluate the options based on this 2:1 ratio. The top-left diagram shows a 1:1 ratio (three K\u207a and three SO\u2084\u00b2\u207b), which is incorrect. The top-right diagram shows a 4:5 ratio, which is also incorrect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both the bottom-left and bottom-right diagrams show the correct 2:1 ratio, with six K\u207a ions and three SO\u2084\u00b2\u207b ions. However, the key difference is how the ions are distributed. Since K\u2082SO\u2084 dissociates completely, the ions should be separated from each other and dispersed randomly throughout the solution. The bottom-right diagram correctly depicts this, showing individual, free-moving ions. The bottom-left diagram incorrectly shows the ions still clustered together, which does not represent a fully dissolved and dissociated ionic compound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Determine which diagram best represents the ionic compound K,SO4 dissolved in water: The Correct Answer and Explanation is: The correct answer is the diagram in the bottom right. To determine the best representation of potassium sulfate (K\u2082SO\u2084) dissolved in water, we must first understand how this ionic compound behaves in an aqueous solution. Potassium sulfate is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}