Solutions

The most common type of solution you will encounter in a lab are solutions with water as the solvent, which are called aqueous solutions.

Water is sometimes called the "universal solvent" because it can dissolve a wide range of things. Water can do this because it is a polar compound. Polar compounds have partially charged ends of the molecule and can interact with other charged particles, like alcohol. However, water cannot dissolve non-polar, compounds without a charge, compounds like oil or gasoline.

substances that are able to be mixed are called miscible.

As a rule of thumb polar substances can only dissolve other polar substances and similarly non-polar substances can dissolve other non-polar substances. This is sometimes referred to as "like dissolves like".

Solutes will usually spontaneously dissolve into solution if the reaction is exothermic (gives off heat) or increases entropy.

Take the example of mixing sugar into coffee

We can increase the rate at which a solute dissolves by:

1. Increasing surface area (i.e. crushing the sugar). A sugar cube takes longer to dissolve than granulated sugar.

2. Heating the mixture. sugar takes much longer to dissolve into Ice coffee.

3. Stirring the mixture. There's a reason Dunks gives you those little pink stirs.