Activity 11: Factors Affecting Solubility

LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. Demonstrate how the temperature affects solubility.

2. Prove how the surface area and stirring affects the solubility.

3. Illustrate how the polarity of solute and solvent affects solubility.

PROCEDURES:

A. TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON SOLUBILITY

1. Obtain 3 glasses and fill each one with 100 ml of water using a liquid measuring device
to get accurate measurements. Glass A should be from the cold-water source, Glass B
should be room temperature from the tap, and Glass C should be from the warm water
source.
2. Take the temperature of each beaker and record the range of temperatures observed. It
will be difficult to keep the temperatures constant, so a range of temperatures will do.
3. Take 1 scoop of salt and place it each glass of water, one at a time. Begin on the warm
water and observe its solubility. Repeat the procedure on other glass of water with
different temperature. Don’t stir the mixture. Make sure all your servings of salt are equal
in size.
4. You should be observing to make sure that all the material (solute) is dissolving.
5. You should add another scoop until no more material can dissolve in the water. You will
know this when you see material settling at the bottom of the beaker. Stir the salt in the
beaker. Record the number of scoops that each beaker needed in the data table.

B. SURFACE AREA EFFECTS ON SOLUBILITY

6. Obtain 2 glasses and fill them up with 100 ml of tap water. Make sure that you rinse the
glasses thoroughly from the steps before.
7. To test surface area, we will use rock salt and regular salt. The two materials are similar
except for the rock salt being bigger chunks. The smaller the chunks, the greater the
surface area.
8. Add equal amounts of the salt to its glasses; observe the rate of dissolving in each. If you
wish, you can weigh out both samples to get an equal amount of mass for each.

C. STIRRING AND ITS EFFECT ON SOLUBILITY

9. Obtain 2 glasses and fill them with 100 ml each of tap water.
10. Add equal amounts of the salt to each glass and only stir in the salt in one of the glasses.
This means that one of the glasses will have salt that is undisturbed. Observe the rate of
dissolving in each beaker.
 11. Add scoops of salt to its glasses, recording the number of scoops used as you did for the
beakers at different temperatures.

D. POLARITY OF SOLUTE AND SOLVENT

12. Determine the solubility of 1 gram (if solid) or 1 mL (if liquid) in 10 mL of water, 1 mL
of isopropyl alcohol and 1: 1 mixture of water and isopropyl alcohol on the following
solute listed below:

SOLUTES:

 Sodium Chloride
 Coconut oil
 Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)
 Toluene (Toluene is found naturally in crude oil, and is used in oil refining and the
 manufacturing of paints, lacquers, explosives (TNT) and glues. In
 homes, toluene may be found in paint thinners, paintbrush cleaners, nail polish,
 glues, inks and stain removers.

NAME: Jerome S. Gadi

Activity 9: Factors Affecting Solubility

Questions:

1. List the factors that affect solubility of a solid that is being dissolved in a liquid and explain
each one.

a) Polarity. In most cases, the solutes dissolve in solvents having a similar polarity. It is a
separation of electric charge leading to a molecule or its chemical groups having an
electric dipole moment, with a negatively charged end and a positively charged end.

b) Temperature. Temperature has a direct effect on solubility. For most ionic solids,
increasing the temperature increases the rate at which the solution can be made. As the
temperature increases, the particles of the solid moves faster.

c) Pressure. The pressure affects the solubility of a gas in a liquid but never of a solid that
dissolves in a liquid. When pressure is applied to a gas which is above the surface of a
solvent, the gas will move to the solvent and occupy some of the gaps between the
solvent particles.
 d) Nature of solute. The nature of the solute and the solvent and the presence of other
chemical compounds in the solution affect the solubility. Ethanol in water are completely
soluble with one another. In this case, the solvent will be the compound that is in the
greatest amount.

2. Give an example on how each of the factors are used around the house.

a) Polarity.

An example of a good polar solvent in our house is water. It is known as the universal
solvent due to how many polar substances it can dissolve, which is a result of the strong
attraction that the hydrogen and oxygen atoms can exert on other substances.

b) Temperature.

When using table salt, you can dissolve almost the same amount of table salt in ice water
as you can in boiling water.

c) Pressure.

When drinking carbonated soda, the pressure is applied to force the molecules of CO2
into the soda. When a can of soda is opened, the pressure in the soda is lowered, so the
gas immediately begins to leave the solution.

d) Nature of Solute.

When using sugar for example, a greater amount of sugar can be dissolved in water, than
salt in water. In this case it is said that sugar is more soluble.

TABLE of OBSERVATIONS:

DATA TABLE # 1: FOR TEMPERATURE EFFECTS

Water Temp. of Water ℃ Number of Scoops

Cold water 14 1

Room water 25 1

Hot water 47 2
DATA TABLE # 2: FOR SURFACE AREA EFFECTS

Type of Salt Observation after 1 Observation after 3 Number of scoops

minute minutes
Rock Salt The water on the rock The water became 2
salt became clear. clearer but there is
There are huge still a lot of salts left.
chunks left.
Table Salt The water on the The water is chalky 2
regular salt was less in appearance but
clear compared to there are less salts
rock salt. There is a left.
small amount of salt
left.

DATA TABLE # 3: FOR STIRRING EFFECTS

Type of Salt Observation after 1 Observation after 3 Number of scoops

minute minutes
Stirred The stirred one is The stirred salt has 2
dissolving rapidly. completely dissolved,
and the color of the
mixture is white.
Unstirred The dissolving of salt There are still salt 2
in the unstirred water crystals in the water.
is imperceptible.

DATA TABLE # 4: POLARITY OF SOLUTE AND SOLVENT

Solvent Sodium Baking soda Coconut Oil Toluene

Chloride
Water miscible miscible immiscible immiscible
Isopropyl immiscible slightly miscible miscible miscible
Alcohol
1: 1 mixture of miscible miscible slightly miscible Slightly miscible
water and
Isopropyl
Alcohol
LAB QUESTIONS. If needed use another sheet of paper.

1. Record your observations about how temperature affects the solubility of the solute and
explain why this effect occurs. Be sure to use data from your lab.

The hot water can hold more solute than the cold and tap water. Based on my observation,
temperature can increase the amount of solute that can dissolve in a solvent.

2. Record your observations concerning the solubility of the rock salt as compared to the
solubility of the regular salt. Include a description of the two beakers after the following times:
1 minute and 3 minutes. Explain why this effect occurs.

In one minute, the water is clear on the rock salt’s beaker compared to the regular salt’s beaker.
In three minutes, the water is clearer on the rock salt’s beaker while the water is chalky in the
regular one. However, the salt is more dissolved in the regular salt’s beaker than the rock salt’s
beaker. Based on my observation, the bigger the solute is, the harder it dissolves.

3. Record your observations concerning the solubility of the stirred sample as compared to the
solubility of the unstirred sample. Include a description of the two beakers after the following
times: 1 minute and 3 minutes. Explain why this effect occurs.

In one minute, the stirred sample solution is dissolving faster than the unstirred one. In three
minutes, the stirred sample is completely dissolved while the unstirred sample still has small
amounts of salt left. Based on my observation, stirring helps in dissolving the solute and the
greater the stirring, the faster the solute dissolves.

4. When comparing the temperatures and the solubility, describe the pattern of solubility as
temperature changes.

As the temperature increases, more solute particles dissolve.

5. Explain how a person can affect the factors of the solubility by manipulating the material that
is to be dissolved.

A person can change the amount of solute, and being an external factor, it can manipulate how
solubility will behave in a certain because the size of the solute is also an important factor. The
larger the molecules of the solute, the greater its molecular weight and size. It is more difficult
for solvent molecules to surround larger molecules.

6. Record your observations concerning the solubility of the nature of the solute and solvent.

Based on my observation, the nature of the solute and solvent are both independent factors. If the
pressure and temperature are the same as between two solutes of the same polarity: (1) the one
with smaller particles is usually more soluble, (2) the larger the amount of solvent, the greater its
power to dissolve.
Thinking-Out- loud

In this activity, I have learned that there are factors that can affect solubility: temperature,
polarity, nature of solute and solvent, pressure, and human intervention.

It provided me these general ideas,

 The higher the temperature, the faster the solute dissolves.

 The bigger the solute, the harder it dissolves.
 The greater the stirring, the faster the solute dissolves.
 The larger the amount of solvent, the greater its power to dissolve.
 A solute will dissolve in a solvent if the solute-solvent forces of attraction are great
enough to overcome the solute-solute and solvent-solvent forces of attraction.

Solubility is also one of the parameters in making drugs and medicines. “Low aqueous
solubility is the major problem encountered with formulation development of new chemical
entities as well as for the generic development. More than 40% NCEs (new chemical
entities) developed in pharmaceutical industry are practically insoluble in water.”
(pubmed.gov)

It is important to study solubility because with this, we can understand or even formulate
our own, better concentration for medicines in treatment of cancers and other diseases.