Question

Sugar dissolves in water to form sugar solution. What is the name of the solute?
A. Sugar
B. Water
C. Sugar-water
D. Sugar & water

Answer 1

Hint: In a solution, the species which has the highest amount relative to others is called the solvent and all other components are known as solutes.

Complete step by step answer:
In solution chemistry, we can have two or more components present in a solution. We can classify these components on the basis of their relative amounts present in the given solution. Solvent is that component of the solution which has the highest amount as compared to other component(s). On the other hand, solutes are those components which have relatively lower amount as compared to the solvent. As it has become clear that relative amount can be highest for only one component. So, we can have only one solvent. However, the number of solute(s) can be one or more than that.
We can take the example of salt and water in which water is taken in a large amount and then some amount of salt is dissolved into it. Here, we can see that water being in the large quantity is the solvent whereas salt is the solute.
According to the question, we have a sugar solution in which sugar is dissolved in the water. Following on the above discussed line of reasoning, we can infer that here also, water is taken first in which sugar was dissolved. We can now use the above discussed classification of components of a solution to conclude that in the given sugar solution, the solute is sugar.
Hence, the correct option is A.

Note:
In a solution, solute gets dissolved in the solvent and not the vice versa. Solvent is always present in larger quantities.