Why CaCl
2 is more deliquescent than NaCl . I have no answer rather than it has more affinity towards water molecules . My teacher said that it is related to the vapor pressure .
This is seriously out of my reach . I tried to google but didn't find anything . Then I made a prediction . Like any other solids both of these have vapor pressure (Very tiny although) , so when they escape out from the lattice then around them there is water vapor so they attract them and get attached with them then they come back again , this is how they got water vapor on their surface . (second way is that Water vapor is around them , it get trapped in the lattice due to different affinity of different solids. But this reason is not related with vapor pressure , back to the first mechanism) .
Then I thought there should be basically two factors for different deliquescence nature .
1. If some solid is more volatile (Not so much like camphor, Just comparable eg. 1 torr and 0.5 torr) , then the solid will have more of its molecule in gaseous phase , so greater the chance of getting attached with water vapor .
2. If some solid has greater lattice energy , then it should attract more water molecule in the gas phase (As it will be more unstable) .
So lattice energy of CaCl2 is higher . vapor pressure of NaCl at room temperature is seems to be lower than that of CaCl2
[1],[2] .
[1] Vapor pressure of CaCl
2 = 0.1 mm Hg , 13.3 Pa at 293K -->
http://www.chemicalbook.com/chemicalproductproperty_en_cb3465202.htm[2] Vapor pressure of NaCl at 865 K = 1 Torr = 133 Pa (But it is in molten state at this temperature)
http://www.chemicalbook.com/ChemicalProductProperty_EN_CB4104636.htmCan anybody suggest me am I on right track or not ??