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What is a mixture? A mixture contains different substances that are not chemically joined to each other. For example, a ball-pool may contain a mixture of different coloured balls. The balls are not joined to each other, so they can be picked out and put into separate piles.
Dissolving is one way to make a mixture. For example, when sugar is stirred into water, the sugar dissolves in the water to make sweet sugar solution.
In a solution, a solid dissolves in a liquid.
The solid particles are held tightly together in a fixed arrangement, but that arrangement is broken up by the liquid particles when it dissolves.
The solid substances that dissolve are called solutes and the liquids they are dissolved in are called solvents.
A solute dissolved in a liquid makes a solution.
In a sugar solution, sugar is the solute and water is the solvent. The particles of solute and solvent are completely mixed together, they are a now a mixture.
Substances that dissolve are said to be soluble, whereas those that do not dissolve are said to be insoluble.
A solution is transparent (see-through) liquid. Solutions can never be cloudy or opaque.
For example, the liquid below is orange but it is clear, so it is a solution.
On the contrary, this liquid is not a solution:
Want a bit more help with this before you begin? Why not watch this short video?
