title: Water and electrolyte solutions. Concentration and activity.
abstract: In this work we briefly describe the concept of activity of a solution. We treat the case of electrolyte solutions and the existing experimental difficulties to determine single ion activities. Then, we review the theoretical methods available to compute ionic activities. The mean spherical approximation (MSA) provides a simple and reliable method for computation of single ion activities. We present the case of an arbitrary mixture of ions. Particular attention is given to biological-like solutions, including magnesium and calcium ions.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Física de Líquidos y Sistemas Biológicos (IFLYSIB)-UNLP-CONICET, La Plata, Argentina.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Grigera
mesh_terms: D004573:Electrolytes; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D012996:Solutions; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes; D012996:Solutions; D014867:Water