What is a solvent?
Q: What is a solvent?
A: A solvent is a substance that becomes a solution by dissolving a solid, liquid, or gaseous solute.
Q: What are the most common solvents in everyday life?
A: The most common solvent in everyday life is water. Most other commonly-used solvents are organic (carbon-containing) chemicals.
Q: How can solvents be removed from solutions?
A: Solvents usually have a low boiling point and evaporate easily or can be removed by distillation, thereby leaving the dissolved substance behind.
Q: What are some common uses for organic solvents?
A: Common uses for organic solvents are in dry cleaning (e.g. tetrachloroethylene), as paint thinners (e.g. toluene, turpentine), as nail polish removers and glue solvents (acetone, methyl acetate, ethyl acetate), in spot removers (e.g. hexane, petrol ether), in detergents (citrus terpenes), in perfumes (ethanol), and in chemical syntheses.
Q: What is the concentration of a solution?
A: The concentration of a solution is the amount of compound that is dissolved in a certain volume of solvent.
Q: What does it mean when we say that something has high solubility?
A: The solubility is the maximal amount of compound that is soluble in a certain volume of solvent at a specified temperature; therefore something with high solubility means it can dissolve more compound than something with low solubility at the same temperature and volume of solvent .
