Question

How do you determine if a compound is soluble or insoluble in water?

Answer 1

Hint The water, being polar in nature, dissolves the polar substances in it i.e., we can say that like dissolves like. So, now using the concept of polarity, you can easily answer the given statement accordingly.

Complete step by step answer:
First of all, let’s discuss the compounds. Compounds are the substances which are made up of by the combination of the two or more atoms of different elements.
Example:- water molecule. In this water molecule, two atoms of different elements i.e., hydrogen and oxygen combine together to form the compound i.e., water molecule.
Now considering the statement;
-We can determine whether the given compound will dissolve in water or not on the basis of their polarity.
-Water is a polar molecule and dissolves the polar compounds in it. In other words, we can say that polar compounds are soluble in water and the non-polar compounds are insoluble in water.
-Polar compounds are those compounds which have intermolecular hydrogen bonding i.e., the bonding between two molecules.
-Thus, by knowing that the compound is polar or nonpolar, we can determine that it will dissolve in water or not.

Note: Don’t get confused in the elements and the compounds. Elements are those substances which are made up of only one type of particles or the substances. Elements consist of both atoms and the molecules. Atoms are made up of only one type of particle. Example:- oxygen atom, sodium atom etc. On the other hand, molecules are formed when two atoms combine together. Example:- oxygen molecule, nitrogen molecule etc. On the contrary, a compound is made up of two or more atoms of different elements. Example:- water, ammonia etc.