Solutions

When you are preparing coffee in

the morning, you are actually
making a solution. It is
considered a solution because it
is a homogenous mixture of two
or more substances evenly
distributed in each other.
The coffee and sugar that you mix in
the hot water are the solutes or the
substances dissolved, and the solvent
is the hot water, the liquid material in
which the solute has dissolved. These
are the components of a solution. The
solute can be in the form of solid,
liquid, or gas.
In terms of phase, a solution can be classified as
gaseous, solid or liquid. Air is an example of a
gaseous solution. It is the combination of
nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide gases.
Certain alloys such as brass (solution of zinc and
copper) and coinage silver (solution of copper and
silver) are examples of solid solutions. Seawater
and blood are examples of liquid solutions. Can
you think of other examples of gaseous, solid or
liquid solutions that you encounter in your daily
activities?
Solutions are also classified as dilute
and concentrated based on the relative
amounts of components of the
solution. When the solute is present in
small amounts, the solution is said to
be dilute. But when the solute is
present in considerably significant
amounts, the solution is said to be
concentrated.
However, solutions must not be confused
with suspensions. A basic example of
suspension is the sand mixed with water as
was shown in our activity. As you can see,
the sand is not dissolved in water; it is merely
suspended in it. The suspension produced is
not also, clear; it is actually opaque. And
upon standing, you can see that the sand is
slowly settling.
In this regard, the composition of suspension
is actually changing as the sand settles in, so
it is a heterogenous mixture, unlike that of
the solution. Also, when the clay particles are
allowed to pass through the improvised filter
paper; the sand is left behind. This is
because the particles of a suspension are too
large to pass through the filter paper, or
through a membrane with finer openings.
Energy in the Dissolution Process

Get a glass of water and put a pinch of powder

dye. Observe the pattern of the movement of dye
in water. What you just did best describes the
dissolution process which fascinates chemists for
years. The dissolution process is due to
intermolecular forces (forces that exist between
molecules). When two molecules overcome the
attractive forces that exist between them, they
absorb energy.
Energy in the Dissolution Process

On the other hand, when the attractive force

is formed between two molecules, they
release energy. Thus, we can say that
dissolution process involves the absorption
(endothermic) and release (exothermic) of
energy. When the energy absorbed is greater
than the energy released, the dissolution
process is endothermic. The opposite
scenario is true for exothermic process.
Solubility is the measure of how much solute
will dissolve in a solvent at a specific
temperature. The famous saying “like
dissolves like” is important in predicting the
solubility of a substance in a given solvent.
This expression means that when two
substances of same intermolecular forces and
magnitude are mixed; they are likely to be
soluble to one another. Take for example salt
(NaCl) and water (H2O) which are both polar.
When these two substances are mixed, the
attraction between NaCl and H2O molecules has the
same magnitude to the forces between NaCl
molecules and between H2O molecules. However,
solubility is often confused with miscibility.
Miscibility is the term used when two liquids are
completely soluble with one another in all
proportions while solubility is the term used when a
solid or gas is completely soluble in liquid in all
proportions. For example, alcohol and water are
miscible to one another.
The solubility of a substance is the
maximum amount of solute that can be
dissolved in a certain amount of solvent at a
certain temperature. In this case, water is
assumed as the solvent unless otherwise
stated. But there are also other solvents that
can be used. One common solvent is alcohol.
An alcohol solution used medicinally is called
“tincture”. Thus, a tincture of iodine contains
iodine dissolved in alcohol.
Factors Affecting Solubility
of a Solute
A. Temperature

In the previous experiment, you were able to

dissolve excess solute upon heating. Thus,
temperature affects the solubility of substances.
The solubility of a solid in liquid usually increases
with increasing temperature since most
dissolution process that involves a solid solute
over a liquid solvent is endothermic. However, in
the case of the solubility of gas in liquid,
increasing the temperature will usually result to
decrease in solubility.
B. Nature of Solvent
The ability of a solute to be dissolved in a given solvent is
affected by the type of bond of both the solute and
solvent. In general, polar liquids dissolve polar
compounds and the same is true with nonpolar liquids.
Thus goes the saying “like dissolves like”. This is the
guiding rule in preparing solutions. Since water is a
polar liquid, it dissolves polar compounds such as sugar
(C6H12O6) and salt (NaCl). Sometimes, in spite of all
attempts, a substance does not appreciably dissolve in
water even though it is polar. These substances are
called insoluble salts
C. Pressure

The effect of pressure on the solubility of a

solid or liquid solute is not as noticeable as
that of a gaseous solute. The solubility of
gases in water usually increases with
increasing pressure. This relationship is first
noticed by William Henry (1775-1836) in
1803 and its law is called after his name—
Henry’s law or Pressure-Solubility Law.
C. Pressure

This law states that in a given temperature, the mass of

a gas that dissolves in a given volume of liquid is
directly related to its pressure. An example is the
carbon dioxide gas dissolved in carbonated drinks. If
the bottle is closed, the carbon dioxide gas remains
dissolved in the beverage due to considerable amount of
partial pressure present. But if it is opened, the
pressure is released and carbon dioxide gas bubbles off
the liquid due to a decrease in gas solubility.
Factors Affecting the
Rate of Dissolution
A. Surface area

Surface area does not affect the amount of solute

that will dissolve, but it does affect the solute’s
rate of dissolution. Thus, in order to make a solid
solute dissolve faster, we frequently powder it,
thereby increasing the surface area. This is why
powdered coffee dissolves faster than granulated
coffee even without stirring.
B. Rate of Stirring

The rate at which a solute dissolves can be

increased by stirring the mixture. This
process brings fresh solvent into contact with
the solute and so permits a faster rate of
dissolution.
C. Temperature

Generally, solubility increases with

increasing temperature for most cases of
solid in liquid. The increase in temperature
causes an increase in kinetic energy of the
solute, solvent and the solution thus
facilitating rapid interaction with one
another.
 Saturated,
Unsaturated and
Supersaturated
Solutions
Solutions can also be classified as
saturated, unsaturated and
supersaturated. When a small amount
of sugar is mixed in a glass of water, all
the sugar will dissolve. If more and
more sugar is added while stirring, a
point is reached when some sugar will
settle at the bottom of the glass even
with continued rapid stirring.
This type of solution is said to be
saturated. Thus, a saturated
solution is one that contains as
much of the solute as it can hold at
a given temperature. An unsaturated
solution contains less solute than it
has the capacity to dissolve.
The third type, the supersaturated solution
contains more solute than is present in a
saturated solution. This is a rather unstable
condition. In this case, the excess solid will
eventually separate from the solution as a
precipitate in a process known as precipitation or
as crystals in a process known as crystallization.
Crystals have bigger granules than precipitate.
Tawas or alum crystals are prepared as
supersaturated solutions.
How Much Solute Can Be
Dissolved in a Solution?
The concentration of a solution
is the amount of solute present in a
given quantity of solvent or
solution. For simplicity of the
discussion, we will assume the
solute is a liquid or solid and the
solvent is a liquid.
Chemists use several different
concentration units, each of which
has advantages as well as
limitations. Let us examine four most
common units of concentration:
percent composition, mole fraction,
molarity, and molality.
Types of concentration units
A. Percent composition

The percent of the solute in the solution is

referred to as percent composition. In
expressing the percent concentration, the
unit's mass or volume are used. The following
are the different ways of expressing percent
composition.
1. Percent by mass (% m/m)

The percent by mass (also called percent by

weight or weight percent) is the ratio of the mass
of solute to the mass of solution, multiplied by
100 percent:
Sometimes, percent by mass is also termed as
mass fraction only that the percentage multiplier
is deleted. Mass fraction is just the fraction of the
mass of the solute over the total mass of the
solution. Mass fractions of very dilute solutions
are often expressed in parts per million
(abbreviated as ppm). One part per million is
equivalent to one gram of solute per one million
grams of solution, or one milligram of solute per
thousand grams of solution (1mg/kg).
For even smaller mass fractions,
parts per billion (ppb) and parts per
trillion (ppt) are often used. And as
their name implies, we can express
the mass fraction as parts per million
by multiplying it by 1 000 000 ppm
(10 ppm) or 1 000 000 000 ppb (10
6 9

ppb) and so on.