: What happens when a substance is dissolved into a liquid eg. Sugar ?

Question

So when I mix sugar into coffee, what exactly happens to the sugar ? How does it “dissolve ” ? Does it just shrink? Does it get absorbed?

Thanks for the science answer(s)

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

There are two kinds of what one might colloquially call “dissolving” something in water.

The first is a “true” solution the other we call emulsion. The big difference is whether the substance we try to dissolve splits into polar (slightly magnetic) particles when we mix it.Water itself is polar, and it sticks to other polar particles, basically making them a part of the fluid.An emulsion happens when you have non polar particles but split them apart well enough within the water, so they don’t form big blobs. Stuff like soap acts as a so called “emulsifier” which takes non polar particles but sticks a magnet on them, so water can hold on to them better.

Edit: the actual process of dissolving, is splitting the big crystals of sugar into many many small particles, which the water can hold onto. If something is very soluble, this happens just by water bouncing against it, so you don’t even have to stir (though stirring speeds the process up).