Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments

Chapter 7. Laboratory: Solubility and Solutions

Chemists routinely make up and use solutions. A solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances. In a solution, the solute is dissolved in another substance called the solvent. For example, if you add a teaspoon of sugar to a cup of coffee, sugar is the solute and coffee is the solvent.

The solute and solvent may be in any phase. One common form of solution is a solid solute (such as salt or sugar) dissolved in a liquid solvent (such as water). A solution in which water is the solvent is called an aqueous solution. Many other solvents are commonly used in chemistry labs, including ethanol ...