Water as A Universal Solvent

Water is a chemical compound and polar molecule, which is liquid at standard temperature and pressure. It has the chemical formula H₂O, meaning that one molecule of water is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Water is found almost everywhere on earth and is required by all known life.

Water is known as a good solvent. It can be used as a universal solvent because its polar characteristic. The water molecule forms an angle, with hydrogen atoms at the tips and oxygen at the vertex. Since oxygen has a higher electronegativity than hydrogen, the side of the molecule with the oxygen atom has a partial negative charge. A molecule with such a charge difference is called a dipole. The charge differences cause water molecules to be attracted to each other (the relatively positive areas being attracted to the relatively negative areas) and to other polar molecules. This attraction is known as hydrogen bonding.

When an ionic or polar compound enters water, it is surrounded by water molecules. The relatively small size of water molecules typically allows many water molecules to surround one molecule of solute. The partially negative dipoles of the water are attracted to positively charged components of the solute, and vice versa for the positive dipoles.

In general, ionic and polar substances such as acids, alcohols, and salts are easily soluble in water, and non-polar substances such as fats and oils are not. Nonpolar molecules stay together in water because it is energetically more favorable for the water molecules to hydrogen bond to each other than to engage in van der Waals interactions with non-polar molecules.

An example of an ionic solute is table salt; the sodium chloride, NaCl, separates into Na⁺ cations and Cl^- anions, each being surrounded by water molecules. The ions are then easily transported away from their crystalline lattice into solution. An example of a non-ionic solute is table sugar. The water dipoles hydrogen bond to the dipolar regions of the sugar molecule and allow it to be carried away into solution.