What type of compounds dissolve in water

If that doesn't help, please let us know. Unable to load video. Please check your Internet connection and reload this page. If the problem continues, please let us know and we'll try to help. An unexpected error occurred. Previous Video 4. Solubility is affected by temperature and other physical conditions.

Substances that dissolve in water are called water-soluble. A simple water-soluble ionic compound like sodium chloride dissolves in water by breaking up into monatomic ions. Here, it is more favorable for the water molecules and ions to interact in solution than it is for the ions to remain in the ordered solid. A more complex water-soluble ionic compound like sodium nitrate contains ions that are composed of multiple atoms covalently bound together, or polyatomic ions.

When sodium nitrate dissolves, the polyatomic nitrate ions do not split into nitrogen and oxygen. Instead, the ions disperse in solution as intact units. Substances that do not dissolve in water are water-insoluble.

For example, silver chloride is a water-insoluble ionic compound. In this case, it is more favorable for the ions to remain in the ordered solid than to interact with water and disperse in the solution. The solubility of an ionic compound in water depends on the ion pair that makes up the compound.

Chemists have formulated a set of empirical guidelines to predict the solubility of ionic compounds in water. Exceptions to these guidelines are rare. All nitrates and acetates are soluble. Similarly, all ammonium and non-lithium alkali metal compounds are soluble, as are nearly all lithium salts.

Sulfate compounds are soluble, with the exception of its salts with lead, mercury, and silver — remember the acronym LMS or the phrase Let Me See — and calcium, barium, and strontium — remember the acronym CBS or the phrase Come By Soon. All chloride, bromide, and iodide salts are soluble, with the exception of their salts with LMS — lead, mercury, and silver — as well as copper I and thallium. Moving to insoluble compounds, sulfides and hydroxides are insoluble, with the exception of their salts with alkali metals and barium.

In addition, ammonium sulfide is soluble, and strontium hydroxide is soluble when heated. Similarly, carbonates and phosphates are insoluble, with the exception of their ammonium and non-lithium alkali metal salts.

Solubility is the measure of the maximum amount of solute that can be dissolved in a given quantity of solvent at a given temperature and pressure.

A compound is termed soluble if it dissolves in water. When soluble salts dissolve in water, the ions in the solid separate and disperse uniformly throughout the solution; this process represents a physical change known as dissociation. Potassium chloride KCl is an example of a soluble salt.

When solid KCl is added to water, the positive hydrogen end of the polar water molecules is attracted to the negative chloride ions, and the negative oxygen ends of water are attracted to the positive potassium ions. Nitrate, NO 3 - , is a polyatomic ion, and in solution, it stays intact as a single whole unit. The covalent compounds that dissolve do so because they tend to have parts of their molecules that are somewhat polar a negative side and a positive side just like water.

The picture above shows sugar molecules dissolving in water. The sugar molecules contain polar O-H bonds.

The polar O-H bonds in water attract the sugar molecules into solution. What covalent compounds are soluble in water? Chemistry Ionic Bonds Covalent compounds. Jun 14, According to solubility rules, "like solutes dissolves in like solvents" This why water cannot dissolve oil, which is a nonpolar covalent compound.

Since many biomolecules are either polar or charged, water readily dissolves these hydrophilic compounds. Water is a poor solvent, however, for hydrophobic molecules such as lipids. Nonpolar molecules experience hydrophobic interactions in water: the water changes its hydrogen bonding patterns around the hydrophobic molecules to produce a cage-like structure called a clathrate. Thermodynamically, such a large decrease in entropy is not spontaneous, and the hydrophobic molecule will not dissolve.

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