Properties of Water- The Universal Solvent

in this video, we're going to continue talking about the properties of water specifically, how water can act as the universal solvent. Now water is described as the universal solvent because water is capable of dissolving so many different types of Saul Utes. And so we need to differentiate between the term solvent and Saul use. And so the Sol vent is defined as the substance that does the dissolving, and usually the solvent is going to be found in larger amounts. And when we're referring to life, usually the solvent is going to be water itself. And because water can dissolve so many different types of biological molecules, we call it the universal solvent. Now the Sol Ute, on the other hand, is defined as the substance that gets dissolved by the solvent, which does the dissolving. And so usually the Salyut is going to be found in much smaller amounts. And so if we take a look at our image down below, at our example, we can differentiate between the solvent and the Sol ute. And so we're looking at an example of table salt or N a c l sodium chloride being dissolved in water and so notice on the left. Here we have our sodium chloride, the table salt and on the right. We have the sodium chloride being poured into our water. And so over here on the left hand side, when we're just looking at the table salt. Recall that it's made up of sodium chloride molecules, and the sodium chloride molecules form ionic bonds between the sodium cat ion, which is positively charged, and the chloride and ion, which is negatively charged. And so there is an intact ionic bond forming between these two ions. However, when we take the table salt and we dissolve the table salt into the water, as we see over here, which will notice is that the ionic bonds are being disrupted. And so we have disrupted ionic bonds. And so the sodium cat ion is not capable of forming an ionic bond with the chloride an ion, mainly because the water molecules that air surrounding them are disrupting the potential for them to form ionic bonds. And so notice that the water here in this scenario, is what is doing the dissolving. And so the water is going to be found in larger amounts. It's what's doing the dissolving. And so the water is going to be the sol vent. And so notice up above the solvent is a substance that does the dissolving, usually found in larger amounts and usually going to be water when we're referring toa life. And so, of course, this means that the soul ute is going to be the sodium chloride. And so the sodium chloride is what is getting dissolved by the solvent. And so we can say here that the sodium chloride is going to be the Sol Ute. And so when we take the combination of all of the salutes and the sol vent, what we get is the solution. And so really, the solution is the combination of the salute and the solvent. And so if we take a look at our tax up above notice, we're defining the solution as the combination of the Sol Ute and the Sol Vet. Now, when we take a look at the solution that we have down below, over here on the right hand side, because water is acting as the solvent, we call this an aqueous solution. And so, in aqueous solution is just a solution in which water acts as the solvent, and so you can see acquis kind of sounds like aqua like Aquaman, for instance. And this is referring to water being the solvent in the solution, and so also noticed that the water molecules in the solution are going to form what's known as a hydration shell around the dissolved solute molecules. And so when we take a look at the dissolved solute molecules over here, the sodium and chloride notice that they're being surrounded by what's known as, ah, hydration shell, which is when water molecules surround the substance and interact with the substance to dissolve them. And so this year really concludes our introduction to the lesson on how water access the universal solvent and can dissolve so many different types of salutes and moving forward. In our course, we'll talk about how water can dissolve most of the biological solutions most of the biological molecules that will talk about moving forward, such as proteins, nucleic acids and carbohydrates. And so this year concludes our lesson, and we'll be able to get some practice applying these concepts in our next few videos. So I'll see you all there