Solution and Solubility

Factors Affecting Dissolution Rate

• Crushing a solid increases its surface area, allowing it to dissolve more quickly.
• Hot coffee dissolves sugar faster than cold coffee.
• Stirring a mixture also speeds up dissolution.

Solubility

• Solubility is the amount of solute that dissolves in a given amount of solvent at a specific temperature. Example: $35.9$ grams of table salt dissolve in $100$ grams of water at $20$ degrees Celsius.

Saturated Solutions

• A saturated solution cannot dissolve any more solute for a given amount of solvent at a specific temperature; any extra solute will sink.
• Adding more solvent or heating the solution can allow more solute to dissolve.

Unsaturated Solutions

• An unsaturated solution has room for more solute to dissolve.

Solubility Curve Graph

• Solubility curves show how much solute can dissolve in a solvent at different temperatures; usually, as temperature increases, the solubility of a solid increases.
• You can determine the solubility of a substance at a specific temperature using the graph, noting the grams of solute that dissolve in $100$ grams of water.