Water has been entitled as "Universal Solvent", but how far do you think it is true?
A universal solvent would be one that dissolved everything. Obviously this is not true for water, nor for anything else. Glass and plastic bottles, n-decane, and bricks for example, don't dissolve in water at an appreciable level. You might argue that everything dissolves at some level, no matter how slight, I suppose. Then you have to define what you mean by "dissolve." Where do you set the limit? For that matter, you could say the same thing about any liquid, so by that argument every liquid is a universal solvent. Thus, the concept is meaningless.
A universal solvent would be one that dissolved everything. Obviously this is not true for water, nor for anything else. Glass and plastic bottles, n-decane, and bricks for example, don't dissolve in water at an appreciable level. You might argue that everything dissolves at some level, no matter how slight, I suppose. Then you have to define what you mean by "dissolve." Where do you set the limit? For that matter, you could say the same thing about any liquid, so by that argument every liquid is a universal solvent. Thus, the concept is meaningless.
The short answer: Water isn't good at dissolving lots of stuff.
It depends on the polarity. For hydrophobic substances, it is powerless for water to dissolve them.
Have to go along with @Kenneth and @Adam. Still it is the most abundant compound in the Universe.
Actually not in a very strict sense.Water is not really a universal solvent as it hardly dissolves oil and grease and many solids at any appreciable rate. Water however has the capacity to erode materials that are insoluble in it or have some of their particles suspended in water. when they are in contact with water for an appreciable length of time or at a very rapid collision rate.
Water is a universal solvent for living systems. Even within living cells, components that do not dissolve will in water such as membrane lipids depend on the presence of water to maintain their integrity.
Dear Arvind
Water is certainly a widely used solvent not only by researchers but also by all other members of the society for some purpose or the other. Therefore, we may possibly call water as an universally used green and safe liquid. The advantages of using it as a solvent are well-known.
Because water dissolves many materials & for being the main fluid in human beings, animals, and plants... it has been called a "universal solvent" but I do not completely agree upon this description. Water cannot dissolve many substances as is well-known but it is a solvent of choice when it does since it is cheap, available, with no bad or harmful odor ,and incombustible.
Apart from stimulating discussion (mostly centered around semantics), the concept of "universal solvent" is at all useful in an academic context.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Medicine
- Life Sciences