On the basis of direct measurements by UV-vis spectroscopy, the dissociation constant of bichromate was found to decrease with temperature from 160 to 400 °C. For fixed Cr(VI) and KOH concentrations, the molal concentration of HCrO 4initially increases with temperature but decreases again in the vicinity of water's critical point, where the density decreases substantially. The decrease in HCrO 4at high temperature and low density may be attributed to (K + )(CrO 4 2-) ion pairs, to a high degree of electrostriction about CrO 4 2-, which facilitates the reaction HCrO 4 -+ OH -) CrO 4 2-+ H 2 O, and to ion activity coefficients.