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Student Activity: Mixtures: Solutions and Solubility (LA0005)

Author:  James Turner
Published:  2nd September 2002
Lesson plan:  LP0005
Introduction
A mixture is something that contains more that one kind of substance. Solutions are a common kind of mixture in which the particles of one substance are mixed with the particles of a liquid substance (a solvent) and are too small to be seen.
Dissolving (LF0005a)
Open the Crocodile Chemistry simulation file LF0005a.
  1. Click on the beaker of sugar (glucose). What state is it in? (Look in the information bar.)
  2. Add the sugar to the beaker of water by dragging it over the beaker and letting go. This dissolves the sugar in the water: when this happens, the water is called the solvent and the sugar is called the solute. Look for any change in the contents of the beaker.
  3. Look at the information bar again: what has happened to the sugar?
One substance can be dissolved in another (a liquid) so that it cannot be seen. The first substance is called a solute, and the second is called a solvent.
Different solutes (LF0005b)
Open the Crocodile Chemistry simulation file LF0005b.
  1. Substances that can dissolve to form a solution are called soluble. Add the salt to the beaker of water. Is salt soluble?
  2. Add the chalk to the second beaker of water, and observe what happens. Is chalk soluble?
  3. Solutions, solvents and soluble substances exist all around you. Can you think of some common examples?
Not all substances can be dissolved. Substances that can be dissolved are called soluble.
Extension activity
  1. Using the Crocodile Chemistry simulator, investigate what happens when you keep adding a soluble substance, such as sugar or salt, to a beaker of water.
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