Final answer:
Electrolytes are substances that produce ions when dissolved in water, creating electrically conducting solutions, while nonelectrolytes do not form ions and result in non-conducting solutions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Substances that produce ions when dissolved in water are known as electrolytes. These can be ionic compounds that dissociate into their constituent ions or covalent compounds like acids and bases that chemically react with water to form ions. Electrolytes are important because they create an electrically conducting solution.
Compounds that dissolve without forming ions are referred to as nonelectrolytes and do not conduct electricity in solution. The solubility of a substance determines if it will be a strong electrolyte, completely dissociating into ions, or a weak electrolyte, where only some of the substance dissociates into ions.