Module 4 Intro

Module 4—Properties of Solutions

Lesson Summary

At the beginning of this lesson, you were asked the following essential questions:

• What is a solution?
• What kind of mixture is a solution?

Many people know that gold is a yellow metal, but they have no idea what white gold is. People will often say that a white gold ring contains platinum! You have now learned that white gold does indeed contain gold, but the gold is in an alloy solution with other metals.

Before completing this lesson, you likely thought the term solution was nothing more than another way of saying that something is a liquid. As you have seen, solutions are far more varied and may exist as solids, liquids, or gases. You also learned that solutions are defined as homogeneous mixtures, preventing things like milk and fog from being classified as solutions. Finally, the unique properties of solutions were explored, and you learned how they can be used to distinguish visually identical solutions from one another in the lab.

Lesson Glossary

aqueous phase: a phase denoting a highly soluble substance that has been dissolved in water; denoted by (aq)

conductivity: the ability of a solution to transfer an electric current

electrolyte: a solution that conducts an electric current

nonelectrolyte: a solution that does not conduct an electric current

solution: a homogeneous mixture of at least one solute dissolved in a solvent

solute: a component of a solution, the material that dissolves in the solvent

solvent: a component of a solution, the material in which the solute dissolves

turbidity: the measure of the clarity of a clear liquid