After this lesson, you should be able to...
Dissolution is the technical term for the process of dissolving a solute into a solvent to form a homogenous solution. The solute is the minor component and the solvent is the major component of the mixture. There are many types of solutions, but we will focus on solids in liquids and liquids in liquids for now.
The process of dissolution often involves changes in energy (enthalpy) that can be observed by changes in temperature. The change in energy comes from the changes in intermolecular forces (IMF) at the atomic level. Check out the video below for more details!
Here is a link to a video demonstration which shows how changes in energy (enthalpy) occur when a solid is dissolved in water. Can you identify which reaction was endothermic and which was exothermic? (The solution on the left is copper sulfate, the solution on the right is ammonium nitrate)