A solution is a mixture of solute and solvent particles.
When you place a lump of sugar in water, the sugar seems gradually to disappear. The sugar is dissolving. You are
left with a colourless solution. The substance that dissolves is called the solute. The substance that it dissolves
into is called the solvent. So, in the example, the colourless solution is a mixture of sugar and water. Although
the sugar seems to disappear, it is still there. The sugar particles have simply spread out among the water
particles.
N.B. The mass of the solution is the same as the masses of the water and sugar added together.
Dissolving blue copper sulfate crystals in water to form copper sulfate solution
Copper sulfate is soluble in water
Copper sulfate is soluble in water
Clay does not dissolve in water but forms a
suspension that settle at the bottom of the
liquid after some time forms a sediment
It is easy to confuse melting with dissolving.
N.B: dissolving needs two substances, a solute and a solvent.
When salt is added to water and it dissolves, it has not disappeared. The salt particles are still in the water. The
mass of the solution equals the total mass of the solute and solvent.
This is true for any solution.
mass of solute + mass of solvent = mass of solution
N.B. No mass has been lost. The mass has been conserved.
Solutions
A solution is made when a solute is dissolved in a solvent. More particles of the solute are dissolved in a concentrated solution
than in a dilute solution.
Solubility
A solid that dissolves in a solvent such as water is said to be soluble.
Sodium chloride (common salt) and sugar are soluble.
A solid that will not dissolve in water is insoluble. Iron filings are insoluble in water.
If you keep adding a soluble solid to a beaker of water, there comes a point where no
more of the solid will dissolve. You have made a saturated solution.
Some soluble substances are more soluble than others. If you have 100 cm3
of water, you would be able to dissolve a lot of sodium chloride in it, but only
a tiny amount of lead chloride. Sodium chloride has greater solubility than lead chloride.
Comparing solubility
To compare the solubility of different solutes you must measure how much of each solute will dissolve in a known amount of the
solvent.
The table shows the solubility of different salts. It shows how much of each salt can be dissolved when it is added to 100 g of
water at 20 °C.
Temperature and solubility
Most solutes will dissolve more quickly and easily in hot water than in cold water. The more energy the particles
have, the more they vibrate and move.
You can dissolve a greater mass of the solute in hot water than in the same volume of cold water. In other words, as
the temperature increases, the solubility of most solutes also increases.
For example, if you have 100 g of water at 20°C you can dissolve 204 g of sugar in it. If you heat the water to 80 °C,
you can dissolve 362 g of sugar in it.
Planning an investigation on solubility
Part 1: Planning the investigation
You need to consider the variables, risk assessments, equipment and method.
Consider these questions.
• What volume of water you will use?
• How you will change the temperature of the water and how you will keep it at that temperature while you add
the sodium chloride?
• What range of temperatures you will use? (The highest and lowest temperatures you will use.) Remember to be
practical about this.
• What interval between temperatures will you use? (Will you use gaps of 10 degrees celsius between
temperatures, or 5 degrees celsius?)
• What will you do to ensure you are safe while carrying out your investigation?
• What equipment will you need?
• What method will you use?
You need to prepare a table to use for your results. Think about how many columns you will need. What headings
will you use? What units will you use? How many readings will you take? Will you repeat your tests?
Make sure you have a full plan written, including a step-by-step method, before you carry out the investigation.
Water temperature /0 C Mass of sodium carbonate that
dissolves/g
0
10
Part 2: Carrying out the investigation
Collect the equipment that you chose in your plan. Make sure you have your step-by-step method to follow.
Questions
1 Plot an appropriate graph.
2 Explain what you have found out.
3 Would you expect similar results if you used another salt, such as copper sulfate or lead chloride?
N.B.