Aqueous Solutions, Dissolving, and Solvation

We talk about dissolving aqueous solutions, where water is the solvent. We'll look at the process of solvation, which is what happens during dissolving, when particles of solvent surround particles of solvent and carry them into solution. This process happens differently for coolant and ionic substance. Covalent substances separate out into molecules. Ionic compounds dissociate into individual ions, a process known as dissociation. The polarity and electronegativity of water determines how the water molecules will surround the solute particles, with partial negatively charged oxygen atoms and partially positively charged hydrogen aligning with the charge of the ions. Finally, the aqueous solution state symbol (aq) can be used to show that a substance is dissolved in water.