Question

Water is known as an universal solvent due to its ability to dissolve a wide range of chemicals. This enables water to carry valuable minerals, nutrients, and chemicals for every living thing. Which property of water best explains its ability to dissolve many chemicals and what is meant by this term? A) Water's property of high polarity gives it the ability to dissolve many chemicals because hydrogen has a positive electrical charge and oxygen has a negative electrical charge. B) Water's property of low polarity gives it the ability to dissolve many chemicals because hydrogen has a negative electrical charge and oxygen has a negative electrical charge. C) Water's property of high polarity gives it the ability to dissolve non-polar compounds only. D) Water's property of low polarity gives it the ability to dissolve non-polar compounds only.

Answer 1

Answer:

A

Explanation:

Water molecule is polar because of the way its electron cloud is distributed around a molecule. The oxygen atom due to its higher atomic mass (compared to the hydrogen atoms) attracts much of the electron cloud to its end. This makes the Oxygen end of the water molecule a negative dipole leaving the Hydrogen end as a positive dipole.

Water, therefore, dissolves polar molecules very well because they are able to form Hydrogen bonds with the water molecules. It also dissolves neutral molecules because they also Vander Waals forces between them and water molecules. Only non-polar molecules are unable to dissolve in water hence giving water the property of being a more or less universal solvent.