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Pool Chlorinator. I know the basic explanation, but I see two problems:?
1...When NaCl hydrolyzes to free Na and free Cl, the Na instantly reacts with water to create NaOH, aka Lye (Nasty stuff), and liberates a Hydrogen. Then the Cl is supposed to recombine with the NaOH to create water and salt. However we are now short of a Hydrogen, because it bubbles free.
2...Some of the Cl escapes from the water surface, and is no longer available to re-create salt, so it would appear that the NaCl gradually disappears as the Cl escapes and the pool contains only NaOH.
What am I missing?
2 Answers
- BrandirLv 67 years ago
Sodium chloride does not "hydrolize" - hydrolysis in chemistry means something different - but it simply dissolves, forming Na+ cations and Cl- anions, both surrounded by dynamic shells of water molecules. That arrangement is all they do to the water, no protons are transferred or anything, and certainly no sodium hydroxide is formed. Adding NaCl just makes water salty, and does nothing for disinfection (except if you add such quantities as to create a hypertonic environment....)
In salt water chlorination, what happens is that some of the sodium chloride in solution - which does not have a biocidal effect - is electrolyzed, which eventually forms sodium hypochlorite, which is a disinfectant (essentially, that's what you have in bleach). Without that electrolysis part - which is not spontaneous but needs a rather big energy input - you'd just have brine in that pool.
