Solutions

So what exactly is a solution? A lot of the time in common language, you'll hear the solution as referring to the correct way to do something on a problem. For example, "the solution to problem #4 requires yo to cancel out the numerator and denominator".

In chemistry, a solution is quite different from that. A solution can be described as a homogeneous mixture of multiple substances(usually just 2 but could be more). When we say homogeneous, we mean that the solution is uniform throughout.

For example, if you ever pour table sugar(sucrose) into a cup of water, you'll notice that the sugar dissolves into the water. In simpler words, it almost seamlessly disperses throughout the fluid. This quality of the sugar is known as solubility, and the fact that it easily dissolve indicates that it has a high solubility.

In the case of the sugar-water solution, sugar is what is known as the solute, while water is what is known as the solvent. In more general terms, the solute is the substance that dissolves while the solvent is the substance that the solute dissolves into. If this sounds complicated, then think of it like this: the water is what you placed the sugar into. You didn't do it the other way around and place water into sugar. You specifically had water first and then dissolved sugar into it, making sugar the solute, the substance that dissolves, and water the solvent. An alternate term for when water is a solvent is an "aqueous solution", as water is a very common solvent.

Here are the sections for this unit:

Solubility

Chromatography

Beer-Lambert Law