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Why is sugar soluble in water?

Updated: 8/10/2023
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14y ago

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Water tends to dissolve substances that are made up of either polar molecules or ions. If

a molecule is nonpolar, however, water is not attracted to it, since a nonpolar molecule has on net electrical charges in it. Olive oil and canola oil, for example, are made up of

nonpolar molecules. So, sugar is soluble in water, because it is a polar molecule just like

salt.

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14y ago
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11y ago

The molecules of sugar bond with the water molecules. This is because water is a solvent, which are substances that can bond to another kind of subtances easily.

Note: Water is considered the universal solvent, because it is considered to be the strongest substance to dissolve most substances.

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13y ago

It is because sugar is a polar compound. It readily dissolves in water because when the molecule of sucrose breaks away from the crystal of sugar it immediately gets surrounded by molecules of water. Hence sugar is soluble.

When the water become saturated, sugar is not that soluble instead.

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15y ago

Sugars such as glucose have hydroxyl groups coming off the carbon skeleton. A hydroxyl group is hydrogen bonded to oxygen bonded to the carbon chain (H-O-R). Notice how much this is like water (H-O-H) where the only difference is the oxygen is attached to the rest of the sugar instead of a second hydrogen. Just as in water, the oxygen is more electronegative than the hydrogen so it "pulls" electrons away creating a dipole (separation of partial charges; the hydrogen is slightly positive and the oxygen is slightly negative). The hydroxyl group can then hydrogen bond with water. Slightly positive hydrogen on the hydroxyl can start to share electrons with water's oxygen, and a pair of electrons on the hydroxyl oxygen can likewise coordinate a slightly positive hydrogen of a molecule of H2O.

A less scientific-sounding explanation that's still based in science may help: In general, like dissolves like. Hydroxyls are a lot like water, so compounds with tons of hydroxyls are water-soluble. By contrast, toluene would not be as water-soluble, but it would be very soluble in benzene.

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14y ago

sugar is soluble in water because it is a polar molecule. water is also a polar molecule... a simple way to remember if a solute will dissolve in a solvent is "like dissolves like" so polar water will dissolve polar molecules... nonpolar substances will dissolve other nonpolar substances

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7y ago

Solute is the substance that is dissolved. The solvent is the substance that dissolves the solute.

If you put sugar in a glass of warm water the sugar is the solute and the water is the sovent

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11y ago

why does suger disolve in water

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Nikko Cayzer Abarca

Lvl 1
2y ago
useles

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14y ago

it does not only when boiled

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Q: Why is sugar soluble in water?
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