Final answer:
Table salt, an ionic compound, dissolves in water by dissociating into ions, which increases the number of particles in the solution, while table sugar, a molecular compound, dissolves by dispersing molecules intact, resulting in an equal number of particles to molecules.
Step-by-step explanation:
Particles of table salt (NaCl), an ionic compound, and table sugar (C6H12O6), a molecular compound, differ significantly in the way they dissolve in water. When table salt dissolves, it dissociates into its constituent sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl−) ions, creating a higher number of dissolved particles compared to the original compound. Each mole of NaCl yields 1 mole of Na+ ions and 1 mole of Cl− ions, resulting in a total of 2 moles of particles.
In contrast, when table sugar dissolves, the individual sugar molecules simply disperse throughout the solution without separating into ions. Thus, one mole of sugar molecules remaining intact in the solution will equate to one mole of dissolved particles. This difference implies that the dissolving of NaCl can affect the properties of a solution twice as much as an equal mole of glucose, because NaCl provides more solute particles.