Day 159

Today is a continuation of yesterday's discussion of the process of dissolving & solutions.  In the video clip that follows, pay particular attention to the vocabulary that is used (solution, solute, solvent, and a new term, electrolytes), concepts that we have discussed previously (polarity) and the diagrams of water dissolving both sugar (a polar covalent compound) and table salt (an ionic compound).

One of the things that affects how much solute can be dissolved in solution is temperature, and depending on the solute (gas vs. solid), increasing or decreasing the temperature of the solvent can have different effects on solubility.  Your next POGIL activity will deal with the concept of solubility (the quantification of just how much solute can be dissolved in a given amount of solvent at a given temperature), and how to determine what this solubility limit is.

Understanding what solubility is will help us understand and interpret solubility curve diagrams.  Tomorrow, we will work more with solubility curve diagrams and explore terms such as saturated, unsaturated and (cue majestic fanfare) supersaturated solutions.  In fact, our next lab activity will involve the construction of a solubility curve for an ionic substance...more on that to come.