[Pupate]

In the past few days I've realized I have a bit of trouble distinguishing between solubility and electrolytic behavior. I have a test tomorrow, and I wanted to see if I can clear this up; the teacher wasn't very helpful the past few days I asked for clarification.

When you say something is soluble in water (denoted by (aq), right?) does that mean that it dissolves into its representative particles? Like, if you had a solid soluble molecular compound it would just separate into molecules, right? (This is just to make sure I know things correctly). If something is soluble, does it necessarily mean it will dissociate or ionize in solution? What I don't understand is what if you have a compound like BeCo3 that is insoluble in water, but it is an ionic compound, and therefore a strong electrolyte, shouldn't it completely ionize in solution? But since it's insoluble, can't it not ionize? Will it the fact that it's insoluble negate the fact that it's also a strong electrolyte? Oy, I'm so confused. If anyone could explain and give me some solace, it'd be wonderful. Thanks in advance!

[macman104]

When you say something is soluble in water (denoted by (aq), right?) does that mean that it dissolves into its representative particles? Like, if you had a solid soluble molecular compound it would just separate into molecules, right? (This is just to make sure I know things correctly).

Correct.

If something is soluble, does it necessarily mean it will dissociate or ionize in solution?

No, it does not.  As you said, molecular compounds simply dissolve and you could say the molecules are "solvated" if you want.  This is usually due to the compatibility between the polarity and dipoles of the molecular compound.

What I don't understand is what if you have a compound like BeCo3 that is insoluble in water, but it is an ionic compound, and therefore a strong electrolyte, shouldn't it completely ionize in solution? But since it's insoluble, can't it not ionize? Will it the fact that it's insoluble negate the fact that it's also a strong electrolyte?

You may sound confused, but you're exactly correct.  Whether it is soluble has nothing to do with whether it is a strong electrolyte.  Solubility is based on the interactions between dipoles, charge, entropy, etc. between the solvent and solute.  However, the term electrolyte describes how the dissolved/solvated compound exists in the solution.  A strong electrolyte (strong acids/bases) is something that, when it dissolves, is dissociated 100% into charged species.  A weak electrolyte (weak acids/bases) is one that dissolves partially into charged species and a non-electrolyte (molecular compounds, but watch out for organic acids/bases which are usually weak) is one that does not dissociate into charged species.