If 10 grams of salt are dissolved in 100 mL of water, which component is the solute?
Salt only
The correct answer is Salt only. To identify the solute, we must understand the parts of a solution. A solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances, and it has two components defined by their roles:
- Solute — the substance that gets dissolved; it is usually present in the smaller amount and loses its own visible form as it spreads through the mixture.
- Solvent — the substance that does the dissolving; it is usually present in the larger amount and provides the medium in which the solute disperses.
In this example, 10 grams of salt are dispersed into 100 mL of water. The salt is present in the smaller quantity and it dissolves (its solid crystals separate into ions and spread throughout the liquid), so the salt is the solute. The water, present in far greater amount and doing the dissolving, is the solvent. Together they form salt water, which is the solution.
Why the other options are incorrect: Water only is the solvent, not the solute. Saying both salt and water are the solute confuses the two distinct roles — one substance dissolves the other. Neither is clearly wrong because a genuine dissolving process is taking place, and the dissolved substance (salt) is by definition the solute.
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