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Article: The Dynamics of Dissolving.(chemical properties of water)
- Article from:
- Science and Children
- Article date:
- February 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 National Science Teachers Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: James Kessler and Patti Galvan
As you watch salt or sugar particles dissolve in water, they seem to disappear. You know that they must be in the water somewhere because you can taste them and also see them if you let the water evaporate. But what really happened to make them dissolve? And why do some substances dissolve easily, some not at all, and some in between?
Dissolving is as much about the substance doing the dissolving (the solvent) as it is about the substance being dissolved (the solute). Dissolving depends on the interaction between the molecules of solvents and solutes. Let's look at the molecular structure of water, the universal ...