First off, I will admit that my understanding of solubility is sketchy at best.
Wikipedia states that the solubility of ZnS in water is negligible. What about in other solvents? Does anyone here know?
I have tried acetic acid, acetone, alcohol... It does not appear to be soluble in any of them. Then again, as already stated, I do not really
understand what affects a substance's solubility in a particular solvent, as of yet.
I could keep trying various things, but I am basically shooting blind here. And I am limited by what I have on hand around the house.
Supposedly, hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid could work, but both of them would change the ZnS, to ZnCl2 and ZnSO4, respectively.Neil - 13-5-2011 at 10:09
If you type the name of a chemical into Google as well as "solubility table" or if desperate just "solubility" you'll get a whole whack of good data.
Soluble in nitric acid and other strong acids. Maybe molten halide salts. not_important - 13-5-2011 at 10:31
Solubility of salts in strong acids or alkalies generally means "soluble with reaction", HNO3 converting ZnS mostly to the sulfate. And there are few
good non-aqueous solvents for ionic compounds with reasonable small cations and anions. Such compounds can be considered as polymers of the basic
substance with ions bonding to all neighbors. Solvents such as water and NH3 can solvate the ions in the salt, breaking up the structure and bringing
it into solution. Solvents of low polar value, without active hydrogens, can't do that; they can dissolve salts if one or both of the cations and
anions is large with a sizable non-polar section - soaps dissolve to some degree in some organic solvents, NaI is soluble in acetone. Molten salts
are generally polar, being a fluid mix of ions they often can dissolve ionic solids.
bbartlog - 13-5-2011 at 10:39
I would assume that the nitric acid would react, though, forming H2S and the corresponding zinc salt. I don't really think of that as 'soluble' per se
though I often see it mentioned that way.
Zinc chloride would be a good halide salt to try, since it melts at a mere 275C and doesn't add any new anions.
Quote:
You may want to take a gander at this site
If he did, he would see that ZnS is basically insoluble in water, which he already seems to know.
I don't think typical organic solvents will do much for you. Depending on what you're trying to do, you could try a 30% sucrose solution; according to
old references (Seidell) this raises the solubility of CuS, at least, from negligible to a whopping one gram per liter of solution or so. Of course
that may not mean it will have any effect on ZnS at all, and in any case one gram per liter is not a practical solution for most purposes.Neil - 13-5-2011 at 11:34
@ bbartlog - Mind you if he were to take a gander and was a bit more observant then you he'd find explanations on solubility, which would help take
the sketchy out of his understanding.
If you search "sphalerite solubility" you get some neat results on ZnS complexes being dissolved. If you search for "ZnS solutions" you'll find it can
be deposited from soluble complexes.
