Question

What do solvents do to solutes? What phases can solutions be made of?

Answer 1

Solvents dissolve solutes. They are usually the substances that there are more of than the solute in a solution, and they are often a different phase (solid/liquid/gas) than the solute---though they don't have to be.

Usually, we think of solvents as fluids, which can be liquids or gases.

So, if you wanted...

• You could dissolve (solid) salt, `"NaCl"`, in a lot of (liquid) water, `"H"_2"O"`, and water would be the solvent.
• You could dissolve ammonia gas, `"NH"_3`, in a bunch of n-hexane liquid, `"C"_6"H"_14`, and n-hexane would be the solvent. The n stands for "neo", and emphasizes that it is `"H"_3"C"-("CH"_2)_4-"CH"_3`.
• You could dissolve (liquid) benzene, `"C"_6"H"_6`, in large quantities of (liquid) toluene, `"C"_6"H"_5"CH"_3`, and toluene would be the solvent.

Any of these count as solutions. These are respectively a solid-liquid solution, a gas-liquid solution, and a liquid-liquid solution.