Dissolution as a Thermodynamic Negotiation

One mechanism from Chapter 3: The Solvent.

flowchart TD
    A["Solid in contact with water"] --> B["Lattice energy: cost to pull ions apart"]
    A --> C["Hydration energy: payoff from ion-water shells"]
    A --> D["Entropy: dispersion vs imposed local order"]
    B --> E["Compute dG = dH - T dS"]
    C --> E
    D --> E
    E --> F{"Sign of dG?"}
    F -->|negative| G["Dissolution favored"]
    F -->|positive| H["Solid state favored (precipitates)"]

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Diagrams · The Big Picture · Chapter 3