Dude, last year it took my teacher three class periods, each and hour long, to relate that same body of information. Of course, it wasn't intirely her fault, half the class were idots and slackers, but still.
: "Dissolve" means generally "to separate out into individual
: parts". The relation to liquids is that some substances which will,
: when immersed in water or some particular liquid, separate into their
: individual molecules and which will tend to scatter evenly through the
: liquid. So it doesn't just mix with it forcibly, and eventually settle out
: to the bottom or top if the liquid is still for long enough (like oil and
: water will), but instead stay "in solution" and will keep that
: way unless somehow forcible separated (like salt and water).
: In essence, a solution (like salt and water, which make the solution of
: "saline") is somewhere between a compound (like hydrogen and
: oxygen, which make the compound of "water") and a mixture (like
: silicon and carbon, which make the mixture of "dirt").
: For a handy household application of this knowledge, note that things of a
: like solution are always and only soluble in each-other. So water-based
: paints dissolve only in water, oil-based paints dissolve only in oil,
: alcohol-based anything dissolves only in alcohol, and so on. Handy for
: knowing what to clean something with, as water won't help you clean an
: oil-based mess very well. (You could still scrub it off with friction from
: high-pressure water, but just being water won't help there at all).
: Also, water is the most solvent substance known in the universe, i.e. more
: things dissolve in water than in anything else. That's why it's so useful
: for life: all kinds of useful crap can dissolve in water and get together
: that way.
: This has been today's episode of CHEM 101. We now return you to your
: regularly scheduled forum, already in progress. (Oh yeah, and as this
: relates to the thread at hand: dissolve is the right word to use, just
: maybe not in the strict chemical sense).
