Question

Sulphur is soluble in:
A. Ether
B. Alcohol
C. Carbon tetrachloride
D. water

Answer 1

Hint: The solubility of an element or a compound can be described by using ‘‘like dissolves like’’. According to this, substances or elements are soluble only in those solvents, which are having the same polarity as of the substance or element.

Complete step by step answer:
Sulphur is a group 16 element having electronic configuration \[{\rm{1}}{{\rm{s}}^{\rm{2}}}{\rm{2}}{{\rm{s}}^{\rm{2}}}{\rm{2}}{{\rm{p}}^{\rm{6}}}{\rm{3}}{{\rm{s}}^{\rm{2}}}{\rm{3}}{{\rm{p}}^{\rm{4}}}\] and atomic number 16. It exists in various allotropic forms, which can be classified in into three categories as homocyclic species (containing 6-20 sulphur atoms including rhombic or $\alpha$-sulphur, monoclinic sulphur or $\beta$-sulphur and cyclo-$S_{6}$-form), different chain polymers termed as catena $S_{n}$ sulphur and the last categories is of small molecules containing 2-5 sulphur atoms.
The rule ‘‘Like dissolves like’’ states that the polar molecules will be soluble in polar solvents and nonpolar molecules will be soluble in non-polar solvent.
The element sulphur is hard to dissolve and is not soluble in water, which is a universal solvent. As we know that water is a universal solvent because water has a maximum dielectric constant value that is 78.4. Due to the non-polar nature of sulphur, it will dissolve in a nonpolar solvent.
Alcohol and water both are polar, ether is considered to be a slightly polar molecule and carbon tetrachloride is a nonpolar molecule. Sulphur being non-polar, it will be soluble in non-polar solvent such as carbon tetrachloride, benzene, toluene etc.
So, the correct answer is “Option C”.

Note:
The solubility of elemental sulphur in carbon tetrachloride increases logarithmically with increasing temperature. While dissolving sulphur in carbon tetrachloride extra care must be taken because the process is extremely flammable, hazardous and chem