Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-soft-condensed-matter-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2012/paper-1/1/c/solution

For monovalent mobile ions, the linearized Debye–Hückel screening length is
Here is a number density in , not a molarity. Use the question's idealized neutral-water convention, , and . Both ion species contribute:
For added salt concentration in , the ionic strength in this model is . With the numerical molarity ,
The water contribution is negligible at that salt level. The factor converts molarity into ; omitting it or counting only one ion species gives a wrong screening length. Exact water autoionization and activities vary with temperature, so the first estimate uses the simplified neutral concentrations implied by the question. At the higher salt level, ion-size effects, nonideal activities and changes in permittivity limit the numerical accuracy of this continuum estimate.

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