How does polarity of the solute and solvent affect the solubility of a solution?

Answer 1

Water is a polar substance, made so by the intermolecular forces (called dipole-dipole forces) between positive and negative charged ends of molecules. water's polar nature is due also to its structure and uneven sharing of electrons. the oxygen atom pulls electrons away from the hydrogen so there is an unequal sharing of elections. think of this as a higher concentration of negative charge around the oxygen atoms. this uneven balance of charge makes the two hydrogen atoms "bend" away from the oxygen.

For a substance to be soluble in water it usually must be polar too (remember: like dissolves like). however, ionic compounds (like NaCl) also dissolve in water whereas non-polar things such as CO2 do not dissolve in water. if you've taken organic chemistry note also that anything over about 4 carbons is relatively insoluble and by about hexane (6 carbons) it is totally insoluble. note also that molecular branching affects solubility, so t-butyl will vary in solubility compared to n-butyl.

Generally, molecules with H, OH, N, S will be polar whereas most things with lots of carbons or diatomic molecules (O2, for example) will be non-polar

Answer 2

polarity play an important role in water solubility, since water is a polar substance made by intermolecular forces between 2 hydrogen atoms and oxygen. therefore in order for a compound to be considered soluble in water the substance must be polar.

Answer 3

Generally, the more polar a solid is, the less soluble it is in a non-polar solvent.

Answer 4

As a quasi-general rule polar compounds are dissolved in polar solvents.

Answer 5

Generally polar solutes are dissolved in polar solvents and nonpolar solutes are dissolved in nonpolar solvents.