Chem101: General Chemistry

Lecture 7 – Solutions and Colloids

I. Introduction
A. So far we have been looking at the physical and chemical properties of pure
substances.
1. We will now turn our attention to a type of mixture called a solution.
B. In the lab, many of the reactions you have carried out have been carried out in
solution.
C. Solutions are also important in biology.
1. The inside of a living cell is essentially a solution.

II. Physical Staes of solutions

A. Solutions are homogeneous mixtures of two or more substances in which the
components are present as individual atoms, molecules or ions.
1. The individual components are uniformly distributed and are fare too
small to be seen by eye.
a. Liquid and gas solutions do not scatter much light and therefore
are transparent (clear).
B. Usually one of the components is present in much greater quantities than the
others.
1. This component is called the solvent.
a. When the solvent is water it is called an aqueous solution.
2. The other components are called solutes.
3. When forming a solution, the solutes are said to be dissolve in the solvent.
C. Solutions can exist in any one of the three states of matter: solids, liquids and
gases.

Table 7.1 - Solutions in various states.

III. Solubility
A. The process of forming solutions is illustrated in Figure 7.1

Figure 7.1 - Adding sugar, oil and isopropanol to water

B. Adding sugar to water

1. When small amounts of sugar are added to water a single clear
homogenous liquid mixture is produced.
a. The sugar dissolved in the water to form a sugar solution.
2. When large amounts of sugar are added to water there comes a point when
no more sugar will dissolve in the water
a. The remaining sugar settles to the bottom of the glass, producing a
two-layer (heterogenous mixture)
b. When a substance does not dissolve in a solvent is said to be
insoluble.

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Lecture 7: Solutions and Colloids Chem101
C. Saturated solution
1. If there comes a point where no more solute will dissolve in a solvent, the
solution is said to be saturated.
2. The amount of solute that is dissolved in a solution when it is saturated,
determines the solutes solubility.

Tables 7.2 & 7.3 - Solute Solubilities

D. Solubility and temperature

1. For solids dissolved in liquids, the solubility usually increases with
increases in temperature.
2. For gases dissolved in liquids, the solubility usually decreases with
increases in temperature.

Figure 7.3 Solubility and temperature

Example - The bubbles that appear in water just be fore it comes to a boil are dissolved gases
coming out of solution. Also the bubbles that form in a glass of water

E. Supersaturated solution
1. It is possible to dissolve a greater amount of solute in solution than is
present in a saturated solution.
a. Such solutions are supersaturated.
b. Supersaturated solutions can be made by making a saturated
solution at an elevated temperature and then slowly cooling the
solution down
c. The system is unstable; the solute can usually be coaxed out of
solution by adding seed crystals.

Demo - Super saturated sodium acetate hand warmers.

IV. The Solution Process

A. Solute dissolves in a solvent when the attractive interactions between the solvent
and the solute molecules is greater than the attractive interactions between the
solute molecules plus the attractive interactions between the solvent molecules.
B. Ionic compounds dissolving in water

Figure 7.4 - The dissolving of an ionic substance in water

1. The polar water molecules line up to produce an electrostatic field that

partially cancels out the field formed between the ions.
a. Water has a high dielectric constant.
2. The polar water molecules are attracted to ions and bind them.
a. The ions are said to be hydrated.
C. Polar compounds dissolving in water.
1. The polar solute molecules and the polar water molecules form favorable

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Lecture 7: Solutions and Colloids Chem101
interactions.

Figure 7.5 - The dissolving of a polar solute in water.

D. Non-polar solutes do not dissolve in water because they do not form favorable
interactions with water.
1. The water molecules would prefer to interact with themselves than with
then non-polar solute molecules
2. But they do dissolve in non-polar solvents.
E. Polar solutes do no dissolve in non-polar solvents, because they interact more
favorably with themselves than with the non-polar solvent.
F. The general rule of thumb is “like dissolves like”
G. There are, however, some ionic solutes that do not dissolve readily in water.
1. Table 7.4 provides a guide line for those that do and those that do not.
2. We have used these rules in lab in the Bonding experiment.

Table 7.4 - General solubilites of ion compounds in water

H. Solubility should not be confused with the rate of dissolution.

1. Some very soluble solutes can take a long time to dissolve.
2. To speed up the process
a. Grind up the solute
b. Heat the solution
i. This increases the kinetic energy (motion) of the molecules
c. Stir the solution.
I. Heat is usually absorbed or released in the dissolution process.
1. Exothermic - gives off heat
2. Endothermic - absorbs heat

V. Solution Concentrations
A. Molarity - moles of solute per liter of solution
1. The symbol used for molarity is M.
2. For example:
1.2 mol of solute
a. 1.2 M =
1 L of solution
B. Percent
part
1. Percent = x 100%
whole
2. Percent by weight
massof solute
a. %w w = x100%
massof solution
3. Percent by volume
volume of solute
a. %v v = x100%
volume of solution
4. Percent weight by volume
massof solute in grams
a. %w v = x100%
volume of solution in mL

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Lecture 7: Solutions and Colloids Chem101

b. % w v is approximately equal to % w w for aqueous solutions

because the density of water is approximately 1 g/mL.

VI. Solution Preparation

A. Solutions are made by either
1. Dissolving the proper amount of solute in the proper volume of solvent.
2. Diluting a more concentrated solution of the desired composition with the
solvent to obtain the desired concentration.
B. When the desired concentration units are %(v/v), %(w/v) or M, volumetric flasks
are used to measure the volume of the solution.
C. When the desired concentration unit is %(w/w), a balance is used to determine the
mass of both the solvent and solution

VII. Solution Stoichiometry

A. The stoichiometry calculation of solution reactions can be done by extending
Figure 5.12 to include solutions and using the molarity of solutions as a source of
factors

Figure 7.10 - Relationships for problem solving based on balanced equations and solutions
molarities

1. Volumes and molarities are used to determine the number of moles of

reactants and products instead of masses and molecular weights.

VIII. Solution Properties

A. Electrolytic properties.
1. Water is not a very good conductor of electricity, but when an ionic
compound dissolves in water, the solution is a very good conductor of
electricity.
a. You used this property in lab, in the Bonding experiment, to
determine if a compound is ionic or not.
b. When an ionic compound dissolves in water its component ions
separated from one one another.
i. These ions are mobile and therefore can conduct electricity
2. Solutes that dissolve in water and produce ions are called electrolytes.
a. Solutes that dissolve in water and do not produce ions are called
non-electrolytes.
i. Sugar is and example of a non-electrolyte.
B. Colligative properties
1. In a addition to conductivity, there are other solution properties that
depend on the concentration of dissolved solute molecules.
2. These properties depend on the number of dissolved solute molecules and
are collectively referred to as colligative properties.
a. Vapor pressure depression
i. The vapor pressure above an aqueous solution of a
nonvolatile solute is less than the vapor pressure of pure
water.

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Lecture 7: Solutions and Colloids Chem101
1. This is because there are fewer water molecules at
the surface of the solution due to the presence of
solute molecules.
ii. Figure 7.12 demonstrates this by showing that water will
move from a test tube containing pure water to a test tube
containing a solution of copper sulfates.
b. Boiling point elevation
i. Because the vapor pressure is depressed, solutions have to
be heated to a higher temperature in order for them to boil.
ii. The temperature difference between the boiling point of the
solution and the boiling point of the pure solvent is directly
proportional to the number concentration of solute
molecules:
∆tb = nKb M

1. Where is ∆tb is the change in the boiling point, M is

the molarity of the solute, n is the number of solute
particles produced per mole of solute.
a. For example, when 1 mol of NaCl is
dissolved in water it produces 2 mol solute
particles: 1 mol of Na+ ions plus 1 mol of Cl-
ions, therefore, for NaCl n = 2.
2. Kb is the boiling point elevation constant, which is a
characteristic of the solvent.
c. Freezing point depression
i. Solutions also have lower freezing points than their
corresponding pure solvents.
1. Like boiling point elevation, the extent to which the
freezing point is depressed depends on the number
of solute molecules dissolved in the solution:
∆t f = nK f M

d. The Kb and Kf constants for various solvents are given in Table 7.6

Table 7.6 - Boiling and freezing point constants for various solvents.

e. Osmotic Pressure is another important colligative property

i. Occurs when a solution is separated from a volume of its
pure solvent by a semipermeable membrane.
1. A semipermeable membrane is one which allows
the solvent to pass through it but not the solvent
ii. The solvent has a higher concentration on the pure solvent
side of the membrane than on the solution side of the
membrane.
1. The solvent will pass from the pure solvent side to
the solution side in an attempt to equalize the
concentrations of the solvent.

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Lecture 7: Solutions and Colloids Chem101
2. The flow can be stopped by applying a pressure to
the solution side.
a. The amount of pressure that is required to
just stop the flow is called the osmotic
pressure.
3. The osmotic pressure (π) is directly proportional to
the number concentration of solute molecules in the
solution:
π = nMRT
a. This equation is analogous to the ideal gas
law equation:
nRT
P=
V
b. Where nM in the osmotic pressure equation
is equivalent to n/V
ii. The product nM is called the osmolarity of the solution.

II. Dialysis
A. A semipermeable membrane is used to change the solvent composition of a
solution.
1. The technique is usually used when the solute molecules are large, such as
with biological molecules like proteins and nucleic acids.
2. The solute is not able to pass through the membrane, whereas the solvent
and small solute molecules are able to pass through the membrane

Figure 7.18 - Dialysis