103k views
5 votes
What do you think the solubility curve would look like for sugar?

User Mkvcvc
by
8.1k points

1 Answer

2 votes

Final answer:

The solubility curve for sugar would demonstrate increased solubility with higher temperatures, meaning hot water can dissolve more sugar than cold water. Heating the water allows more sugar to dissolve by overcoming the intermolecular forces that keep sugar molecules together. Cooling a saturated sugar solution causes the dissolved sugar to re-crystallize.

Step-by-step explanation:

The solubility curve of sugar would likely show an increase in solubility with temperature, indicating that warm water can dissolve more sugar than cold water.

Solubility curves illustrate how the solubility of substances varies with temperature. Typically, the curve for a compound like table sugar (sucrose, C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁), which is a molecular compound, will show that as temperature increases, the capacity of water to dissolve sugar increases as well. This is because heating the solution enables it to dissolve more sugar before reaching saturation; the heat energy helps disrupt intermolecular forces between sugar molecules and allows the water molecules to better interact with and 'hydrate' the sugar molecules. The solubility of sugar, which is the maximum amount that can dissolve in a given amount of solvent at a specific temperature, will thus be higher at elevated temperatures.

Conversely, if the saturated solution cools, the solubility decreases, and sugar can re-crystallize out of the solution, as depicted in solubility curves for other compounds such as KNO₃. In practice, you can observe this by making a supersaturated sugar solution at a high temperature and then allowing it to cool, resulting in the formation of sugar crystals.

User Eaj
by
7.7k points