The solubility of water

11-30-13
 Why does sugar dissolve in water? Probably every student has wondered once in
his or her life, why sugar is able to dissolve in tea or water. Solubility explains many
phenomena in the world. Solubility is the ability of a substance to dissolve a solute. There
are five factors affecting solubility temperature, polarity, pressure, molecular size, and
stirring. For my science fair project, I dissolved sugar into water of different temperatures.
The only factor of solubility that I changed was temperature of the water in my science
project. I was testing if you increase the temperature of water the solubility of water
increases as well.

The reason sugar is able to dissolve in water is because the water molecules
surround the sugar molecules therefore, breaking down the sugar molecules. Due to
water’s polarity water is able to dissolve sugar. “The polarity of water gives it the ability to
dissolve more substances than any other liquid.”  Water has been called the “universal
solvent”.

When you add sugar to water, the very tiny sugar molecules or crystals get
dissolved into the water and become a solution. But if you add too much sugar to too little
water the mixture will become saturated. Saturation point is the point at which a
substance has absorbed as much of the solute as it can into the solvent. The solubility of a
solute might also depend on its oxidation state. Oxidation state refers to the certain number
of electrons found in the mixture.  If the solvent is at the point at which it can’t hold
anymore of the solute it is called supersaturated. Once a solution has become
supersaturated it begins to form layers. On the top of the layers there is the saturated
mixture but on the bottom there is the undissolved solute, which can be on the bottom or
top.

Every solvent has a saturation point. Solvents can come in many different forms
such as liquids, solids, gases, chemicals, and energy. For my project, I did a solid (sugar)
dissolving in the solvent (water). The hypothesis for my experiment is if there are
different temperatures of water, 60 degrees C, 80 degrees C and 100 degrees C, then it may
affect the dissolving time of sugar because the three different temperatures of warm, hot
and boiling water all have a different saturation point.

While thinking about my experiment I came up with some predictions that might
happen during the experiment. One of my predictions was that since 100 degrees Celsius, is
the boiling point for water that the sugar will dissolve into it quicker than the other
temperatures. I also predicted that the 60 degrees solvent would take the longest to
completely dissolve the solute.

Dadachanji D. The Magic of Water. World & I [serial online]. January 2003; 18(1):148
 The Chemistry of Solutions. VCCS education courses. N.D. October 2013
www.water.me.vcss.edu/courses/ env211/lessons8_2b.htm
2
 Materials and Procedures

Materials:
 Thermometer
 Large glass measuring cup
 Tap water
 Regular sugar
 Timer
 Small glass measuring cup
 Scale
 Pots
 Stove
 Plastic containers

Procedures:
 Gather all measuring tools and other materials
 Put on safety gloves and goggles
 Turn on stove
 Put pots with tap water and thermometer on heated stove
 Watch thermometer as it rises to the goal temperature of water
 Measure out 5g of sugar on the scale
 While waiting for water to heat fill the three plastic cup with the 5g of sugar
 Once water is heated measure out 400 Ml of water
 Pour the 400 Ml of water into the large glass measuring cup
 Add sugar to the water in the measuring cup
 Once the sugar is added start the timer
 Observe and wait till all the sugar is fully dissolved
 Once sugar is dissolved record how long it took the mixture to dissolve
 Repeat all the steps for every trial
 Make sure you did all of the trails the same way
 Graph out the results
 Average out your final results
 Record the actual and final data
 3

The results of my science project were: 60 degrees had the slowest dissolving time,
80 degrees was in the middle, and 100 degrees had the fastest dissolving time. My
predictions and my hypothesis were correct. My prediction that 60 degrees would have
the slowest dissolving time and 100 degrees would have the fastest, were correct.

The reason the 100 degree temperature of water dissolved the sugar the fastest was
because solubility of liquids increases with temperature. At 100 degrees the water
dissolved the sugar quickly due to the increased energy level. This caused the water
particles to bounce off the sides of the container walls faster and surround the sugar
molecules causing it to dissolve the sugar quicker.

The 80 degree temperature of the water it is in the middle because there is less of an
energy increase at a lower temperature. The dissolving time average is 1.58 minutes.
80degrees is the second best solvent because it doesn’t dissolve the sugar as fast as the
higher temperature. The sugar molecules are dissolved at a normal speed because the
energy level was in the middle so the water particles surrounded the sugar molecules and
bounced off the sided of the container at an average speed so it doesn’t dissolve the sugar
molecules as quickly.

The 60 degree water temperature had the worst dissolving time. At 60 degrees
there is less energy to dissolve the sugar molecules than at a higher temperature. When
water is at 60 degrees or lower the energy level is lower therefore, the water molecules
don’t surround the sugar molecules as fast.
 6

Bibliography

Cuevas, Mapi and Vonderbrink, Sally Ann. Holt Science and Technology Introduction to
Matter.Texas Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2007. Print

Dadachanji D. The Magic of Water. World and I [serial online.] January 2003; 18(1):148

Solubility of Things. Educating online. N.D. October 2013.

www.solubilityofthings.com/basics/why_things_dissolve.php

The Chemistry of Solutions. VCCS education courses. N.D. October 2013

www.water.me.vcss.edu/courses/env211/lessons8_2b.htm

What Variables Affect Solubility?

Baker, William P. and Leyva, Kathryn Science Activities, mar 01, 2003; Vol 40, No 1, p. 23-
26