Ionic Strength
Ionic Strength (molal based or m-based)
The ionic strength is a quantity representing the strength of the electric field in a solution, and it is equal to the sum of the molalities of each type of ion present multiplied by the square of their charges, as represented by the following equation:
Where n is the number of charged species.
For example, a 1.0 molar solution of NaCl has 1.0 moles of Na^+ions and 1.0 moles of Cl^- ions in 1 kg of H2O. Therefore, the ionic strength is 1.0 molal.
Now, consider a 1.0 molal solution of CaCl2. This solution has 1.0 moles of Ca^(+2) ions and 2.0 moles of Cl^- ions in 1 kg of H2O. Therefore, the ionic strength is 3.0 molar, or it can be said that a 1.0 molal solution of CaCl2 behaves similar to a 3.0 molar solution of NaCl.
Ionic Strength (mole fraction based or x-based)
In this case the ionic strength is calculated using the mole fraction rather than the molality:
Where n is the number of charged species.
Converting from Mole fraction to Molal-based units
The equation to use is the following:
I(m) = I(x) x LIQMOL / gmole H2O x 55.5082
Where:
I(m) = ionic strength in molal-based units I(x) = ionic strength in mole fraction-based units LIQMOL = moles of liquid (true species) gmole H2O = moles of water in the liquid phase (true species)