Question

You want to sweeten a cup of tea, and you have three types of sugar: sugar cubes (volume: 5ml), granulated sugar (volume: 0.1 ml), and powdered sugar (volume: 0.0001 ml). Which sugar would dissolve the fastest? Why?

Answer 1

Answer:

powdered sugar

Explanation:

The higher is the exposed area of sugar, the faster is the dissolution process. Thus, to choose between the different types of sugar, we have to look at the volume occupied by the sugar.

In sugar cubes, the particles of sugar as compacted in a cube, so the particles inside the cube are not exposed to the solvent (water). So, sugar cubes have the slowest dissolution process. Then, in granulated sugar, the particles have more area exposed, so this type of sugar will dissolve faster than sugar cubes. Finally, powdered sugar is composed of tiny particles with more are exposed, so powdered sugar has the fastest dissolution process.

Therefore, powdered sugar will dissolve the fastest.