Solvation facts for kids

A sodium ion solvated by water molecules

Solvation, also known as dissolution, is a cool process where molecules of a solvent (like water) are attracted to and surround molecules or ions of a solute (like salt). This is how things mix together to form a solution.

What is Solvation?

Imagine you put a spoonful of sugar into a glass of water. The sugar seems to disappear, right? That's solvation happening! It's the way one substance spreads out and mixes evenly into another.

How Does Solvation Work?

When you mix a solute (the thing being dissolved, like sugar or salt) with a solvent (the liquid doing the dissolving, like water), the solvent molecules start to pull apart the solute molecules or ions. They then surround these tiny pieces of the solute.

For example, when you put salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) into water, the water molecules are very good at pulling apart the sodium ions (Na+) and chloride ions (Cl-). Water molecules have a slightly positive side and a slightly negative side. The positive side of water is attracted to the negative chloride ions, and the negative side of water is attracted to the positive sodium ions. This attraction helps the salt break apart and spread out in the water.

This process is often described as "like dissolves like." This means that polar solvents (like water) are good at dissolving polar solutes (like salt or sugar), and non-polar solvents (like oil) are good at dissolving non-polar solutes (like grease).

Why is Solvation Important?

Solvation is super important in many parts of our daily lives and in science:

• Making Drinks: When you make juice from powder or sugar in your tea, solvation is happening.
• Cleaning: Soap works because it helps dissolve grease and dirt in water, allowing them to be washed away.
• In Your Body: Your blood is mostly water, and it uses solvation to carry nutrients, oxygen, and waste products all around your body.
• Chemistry: Many chemical reactions happen in solutions, so understanding solvation is key for scientists.

Related pages

• Solubility
• Solution

Images for kids

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  Nile red at daylight (top row) and UV-light (second row) in different solvents. From left to right: 1. Water, 2. Methanol, 3. Ethanol, 4. Acetonitrile, 5. Dimethylformamide, 6. Acetone, 7. Ethylacetate, 8. Dichlormethane 9. n-Hexane, 10. Methyl-tert-Butylether, 11. Cyclohexane, 12. Toluene. Photographer: Armin Kübelbeck, CC-BY-SA, Wikimedia Commons

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  Solvation of a solute by solvent

See also

In Spanish: Solvatación para niños