Re: Are only liquids soluble or can solids and gases also be soluble?

hi Rob,

Your question is a little confusing - I think you need some help to understand the correct terms that you should be using.

To say that a substance is soluble means that it dissolves in another substance. So you would not really say that a pure liquid substance is soluble - the phrase "water is soluble" does not make sense. A correct phrase would be "sodium chloride is soluble in water".

Solids can certainly be soluble, as you know when you stir sugar into your coffee. Whether a solid will dissolve in a liquid depends on the degree to which the molecules of solid (the solute) separate and associate with the molecules of liquid (the solvent). For instance, sodium chloride is soluble in water but not in paraffin oil.

Some gases are also soluble to a certain extent. There is quite a lot of dissolved oxygen in water for instance, which aquatic animals such as fish can use to breathe.

Liquids can also be soluble in other liquids. In this case you are more likely to see the term "miscible" meaning that they mix rather than forming separate layers, e.g. "acetone is miscible with water".