How do you tell the concentration of ions in a solution

"Tell which solutions contains the larger total concentration of ions... 0.10 M HCl and 0.10 M CaCl2." Which is it, and how do you tell?

Both of those ionic compounds are completely dissociated in water.

When 1 HCl dissociates, it releases 1 H+ and 1 Cl-. This means the concentration of ions is twice as large as the concentration for the whole compound (0.20 M).

When 1 CaCl2 dissociates, it releases 1 Ca(2+) and 2 Cl-. This means the concentration of ions is three times larger than the concentration for the whole compound (0.30 M).

Now it's clear which is larger and why. :)

HCl only has 2 atoms and CaClsub2 has 3 im gonna go with Calcium DiChloride because we know that Ions form molecular bonds to make compounds and since the 2nd formula has more Ions and they have the same Molarity in a their given contentrations....if that makes sense...

HCl because being a strong acid, it's almost completely in form of ions when in solution.