Question

im doing a lab on le chatelier's priciple and the question is 'describe what you observe when the saturated solution of sodium chloride was stressed by the addition of CL- ions, write the ionic equation and explain how le chatelier's principle is applied to this experiment.'

i was given this : NaCl(s) <-> Na+(aq)+ Cl- (aq)

i don't understand this. how do i apply the principle or write the equation? please help!

Answer 1

Add Cl^- (the common ion effect--just a practical example of Le Chatelier's Principle) puts the stress on the equilibrium, the reaction shifts to as to relieve the stress which means that the reaction must try to reduce the Cl^-. The only way it can do that is to shift to the left meaning that NaCl is LESS soluble in a solution with excess chloride in it.