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Chemistry vocabulary · Solutions and Concentration

Solute

Meaning in chemistry, with examples

/ˈsɒljuːt/nounCore term

In chemistry, solute means: The substance that gets dissolved in a solvent to make a solution. In salt water, the salt plays this role and the water is the solvent.

In Turkish: çözünen, çözünen madde

How it is used

Mostly used in textbooks, exams and calculations, for example when you calculate the moles of solute or describe solute–solvent interactions. In the lab people usually name the actual compound instead.

Example sentences

  1. Molarity is the number of moles of solute per liter of solution.

  2. The solute crystallized out when the solution cooled.

Common collocations

  • moles of solute
  • solute concentration
  • nonvolatile solute
  • solute–solvent interactions
  • solventThe substance, usually a liquid, that dissolves another substance to form a solution. Water is the most common one; ethanol, acetone and hexane are widely used organic ones.
  • solutionA uniform mixture in which one substance (the solute) is completely dissolved in another (the solvent). Salt water and sugar dissolved in tea are everyday examples.
  • concentrationThe amount of a substance in a given volume of solution or mixture, for example in moles per liter (mol/L), grams per liter or parts per million (ppm).
  • molarityA measure of concentration: the number of moles of solute in one liter of solution. Its unit is mol/L, written M and read 'molar'.
  • solubilityThe maximum amount of a substance that can dissolve in a given amount of solvent at a certain temperature, often given in grams per 100 g of water.

More terms: Solutions and Concentration

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