Solution (chemistry)

"Solute" redirects here. For the sole order of the class Homoiostelea, see Solute (echinoderm).
Making a saline water solution by dissolving table salt (NaCl) in water. The salt is the solute and the water the solvent.

In chemistry, a solution is defined by IUPAC as "A liquid or solid phase containing more than one substance, when for convenience one (or more) substance, which is called the solvent, is treated differently from the other substances, which are called solutes. When, as is often but not necessarily the case, the sum of the mole fractions of solutes is small compared with unity, the solution is called a dilute solution. A superscript attached to the ∞ symbol for a property of a solution denotes the property in the limit of infinite dilution."[1] One important parameter of a solution is the concentration, which is a measure of the amount of solute in a given amount of solution or solvent. The term "aqueous solution" is used when one of the solvents is water.[2]

  1. ^ "Solution". IUPAC Gold Book.
  2. ^ "Solutions". Washington University Chemistry Department. Washington University. Retrieved 13 April 2018.