GENERAL CHEMISTRY 2

CHM02/G203

Experiment 2:
Effect of Nature of Solute and Solvent on Solubility

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 Discussion

Solutions are composed of solutes and solvents, both of which may be classified as polar

or non-polar in nature. A polar solute can only dissociate in a polar solvent while a non-polar

solute will only dissolve in a non-polar solvent. Simply put, the solute and the solvent must have

similar polarities for any sort of dissociation to occur. This experiment was conducted to test and

show the solubility of polar and non-polar solutes when mixed in polar and non-polar solvents.

The required materials and equipment are first prepared before the beginning of the

experiment. The two solutes, naphthalene and sodium chloride, are placed in two different test

tubes with each solute weighing 0.15 grams. The first part of the experiments required both

solutes be mixed with 20 drops of water. Observations are recorded, with sodium chloride

completely dissociating in water and naphthalene remaining undissolved. Another test is

conducted but this time, kerosene is used as the solvent. This time, naphthalene completely

dissolved while sodium chloride remained undissolved.

The explanation as to why sodium chloride dissolved only in water while naphthalene

only dissolved in kerosene is due to the polarity of the solutes and solvents. For water and

sodium chloride, both polar in nature, the molecules of sodium chloride choose to break off from

each other and bond with the water molecules. These polar molecules begin to form hydrogen

bonds with the water molecules thus completely dissociating them within the liquid. The

naphthalene dissociates with kerosene due to the sporadic movement of electrons causing a

temporarily induced dipole to form and bond with the kerosene. This process repeats itself

several times until the naphthalene completely dissolves

 For the second part of the experiment, two liquids are used as solutes. The liquids are

ethyl alcohol, and coconut oil. Kerosene and water are still used as the solvents for this part of

the experiment. Using the designated droppers for each reagent, 10 drops of coconut oil and 10

drops of ethyl alcohol were put into separate test tubes then 20 drops of water was added to the

solutes. The mixture was stirred and it was observed that ethyl alcohol mixed with water while

coconut oil floated on water and refused to mix. This process was repeated, but this time, using

kerosene as the solvent instead of water. This time, the coconut oil mixed with kerosene but ethyl

alcohol didnt mix with kerosene.

For water and ethyl alcohol, both being polar liquids, caused the dissociation of ethyl

alcohol in water which makes it miscible in water but immiscible in a non-polar solvent like

kerosene. Coconut oil, on the other hand, is a non-polar liquid making it easily dissolvable in

kerosene which is a non-polar solvent. Coconut oil is miscible in kerosene but immiscible in

water.

The final part of the experiment involves opening a can of softdrinks. Softdrinks and

sodas are drinks that usually contained dissolved gasses within the liquid itself, using carbon

dioxide as the gas. While the can is remained unopened, the gasses from within the container

remained dissociated with the drink. When opened, the softdrink fizzes due to the carbon dioxide

gasses breaking the liquids surface tension and escaping the container. This is due to the

pressure of the can decreasing when opened. It is observed that the solubility of gasses are

proportional to the amount of pressure applied on the gas. The higher the pressure applied, the

more soluble gas becomes.

Conclusion

The results based on the experiment concluded that solutes and solvents could only

completely mix when both solute and solvent have similar natures. This means that, for a solute

to be dissolved in a solvent, both the solute and the solvent must have the same polarity such that

if a solute is polar, the solvent must also be polar for any sort of dissociation to occur. The same

goes for the solubility of substances. As shown by the results from the second part of the

experiment, a liquid would only be miscible with another liquid if both liquids are of the same

polarity. Liquids with different polarities would be immiscible making the less dense liquid to

float above the other. As for the third part of the experiment, it was observed that pressure also

plays a part in the solubility of compounds especially gasses. A high pressure would make a

compound more soluble and a low pressure would make it less soluble. It could then be

concluded that the solubility of a compound relies heavily on the polarity of the compound and

solvent in which the compound would be dissolved into and also the pressure that is being

applied to the compounds as the solubility is also proportional to the pressure applied.