mericad193724 - 12-6-2006 at 13:49
Hello,
I am a beginner and am curious about solubility. If I have a chemical and what to know if i disolves in water, alcohol, Chloroform, acidic solutions,
etc...how do you tell, is there a "special way" or do you just have to do extensive internet searching. Example:
Trisodium Phosphate (TSP) is soluble in water, but what about other liquids, how do you tell?
thanks,
mericad193724
bereal511 - 12-6-2006 at 16:54
I guess the most simplistic way of approaching solubility without forehand knowledge would be the concept of "like dissolves like". If there's a more
defined way of determing solubility, I would be glad to hear it also. I'm just a high school chemistry student.
Polar and ionic molecules will generally dissolve in polar solvents, like water or alcohol. Their polarity is owed to their unequal charge
distribution throughout the molecule. For example, with water, the highly electronegatively charged oxygen will be more "negative" because of its
attraction to the electrons from hydrogen, while the hydrogen atoms will be more "positive". This unequal charge distribution causes the polarity in
both water and alcohols. And since salts also have unequal charge distribution due to their ionic nature, they will be dissolved in both. Non-polar
molecules, such as fats or oils, will generally dissolve in non-polar solvents, such as hexane or carbon tetrachloride. These solvents have little
unequal charge distribution, so they will be able to dissolve other nonpolar substances.
Hopefully that helped a bit. Again, this is probably the most simplistic way of determining whether a chemical will be dissolved in another, and I am
by no means an expert. Someone else might be able to make it more clear.
[Edited on 13-6-2006 by bereal511]