If 10 grams of salt are dissolved in 100 mL of water, which component is the solute?
Salt only
A solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances, and it is described using three related terms:
- Solute — the substance that gets dissolved. It is usually present in the smaller amount and loses its own physical form (crystals, particles) as it spreads uniformly through the mixture.
- Solvent — the substance that does the dissolving. It is normally present in the larger amount and keeps its physical state; the solution takes the phase of the solvent (here, a liquid).
- Solution — the uniform mixture that finally results (salt water), in which the solute is spread evenly at the molecular/ionic level.
In this problem, 10 g of salt is added to 100 mL of water. The salt is present in the smaller quantity and disappears into the water as dissolved ions, so the salt is the solute. Water, being present in far greater amount and doing the dissolving, is the solvent.
This is why saying water alone, or naming both together as the solute, is incorrect — each substance has a distinct role, and only the dissolved substance (salt) can be called the solute. The choice that says neither is a solute is wrong because a genuine solution has clearly formed, which necessarily involves a solute dissolving in a solvent.
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