Chemistry
Potassium chloride is an electrovalent compound, while hydrogen chloride is a covalent compound. But, both conducts electricity in their aqueous solutions. Explain.
Answer
Potassium chloride being an electrovalent compound consists of ions. In aqueous solution state, the electrostatic forces between them weaken and the ions become mobile conducting electricity.
On the other hand, hydrogen chloride is a polar covalent compound. The shared electron pair is shifted towards Chlorine thereby developing a slight negative charge on it and a slight positive charge on hydrogen atom. In its aqueous solution state, hydrogen chloride ionises into Hydronium and Chloride ions as shown in the equation below. These ions help in conducting electricity.
HCl + H2O ⇌ H3O+ + Cl-
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