How can temperature affect the formation of a solution?
1 Answer
Increasing the temperature usually increases the rate of formation and the solubility of solids and liquids, but it decreases the solubility of gases.
SOLIDS AND LIQUIDS
For many solids dissolved in liquid water, the solubility increases with temperature.
As the temperature of a solution increases, the average kinetic energy of the solvent molecules increases. This increase in kinetic energy allows the solvent molecules more effectively to separate the solute molecules that are held together by intermolecular attractions.
In addition, the average kinetic energy of the solute molecules increases with temperature. This increased kinetic energy of the molecules causes them to be less effectively held together, so they dissolve more readily.
Thus, solid and liquid solutes become more soluble and dissolve more rapidly as the temperature increases.
GASES
As temperature increases, the average kinetic energy of the dissolved gas molecules increases. As a result, the gas molecules at the surface of the liquid are more likely to escape into the gas phase.
Gaseous solutes become less soluble and escape from the liquid more rapidly as the temperature increases.
