An electrolyte is a substance that produces an electrically conducting solution when dissolved in a polar solvent, such as water. Electrolytes can be ionic compounds, acids, or bases that dissociate into ions in solution. These ions facilitate the conduction of electricity. Common examples of electrolytes include: 1. **Sodium chloride (NaCl)**: Common table salt, which dissolves in water to produce sodium (Na⁺) and chloride (Cl⁻) ions.
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A medium with mobile ions capable of carrying electric charge. Dissolved salts typically supply both positive and negative species; a counterion-only model keeps only the mobile species required to oppose a fixed charge. Poisson-Boltzmann equations use ideal Boltzmann distributions for those species.