differentiate between ionisation and electrolytic dissociation
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Dissociation generally refers to breaking a compound into smaller pieces, usually reversibly. For example, N2O4→2NO2N2O4→2NO2. Note that you can have dissociation without the formation of charged species! The confusion with ionization arises because dissociation in water often leads to the formation of charged species, i.e. NaCl→Na++Cl−NaCl→Na++Cl−, or H2O→H++OH−H2O→H++OH−.
Ionization, meanwhile, specifically refers to the formation of a charged atom or molecule, from the gain or loss of a full electron, i.e. Cl+e−→Cl−Cl+e−→Cl−. Note that this ionization event does not involve a dissociation! Merely zapping a neutral chlorine with an electron.
The reason why NaCl dissociation is not considered ionization is because in an ionic solid like NaCl, an electron is essentially already fully partitioned onto the chlorine. Meanwhile, for the dissociation of a covalent bond (like in H2OH2O), the electron is initially shared between both atoms, thus the dissociation event into ions involves the transfer of an electron from one atom to the other, and hence is also termed ionization
Ionization, meanwhile, specifically refers to the formation of a charged atom or molecule, from the gain or loss of a full electron, i.e. Cl+e−→Cl−Cl+e−→Cl−. Note that this ionization event does not involve a dissociation! Merely zapping a neutral chlorine with an electron.
The reason why NaCl dissociation is not considered ionization is because in an ionic solid like NaCl, an electron is essentially already fully partitioned onto the chlorine. Meanwhile, for the dissociation of a covalent bond (like in H2OH2O), the electron is initially shared between both atoms, thus the dissociation event into ions involves the transfer of an electron from one atom to the other, and hence is also termed ionization
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