In order to continue enjoying our site, we ask that you confirm your identity as a human. Thank you very much for your cooperation. Answer So what is a saturated solution? Think of the word saturated as meaning "full" — the solution is full of a solute and cannot dissolve any more of it. There are many different factors that can affect whether a solution is a saturated solution. Elements that affect a solution's saturation include:
You can create a saturated solution by:
Once the solute stops dissolving, the solution is saturated. At that point, you are creating a heterogeneous mixture instead of a homogenous solution. There are saturated solution examples all around you! Take a walk through your kitchen, bathroom or backyard to find saturated solutions in your everyday life. Have you ever added too much chocolate powder to your chocolate milk? No matter how hard you stir, that extra chocolate batter typically ends up at the bottom of your cup. That's because the chocolate milk was already saturated. Check out more saturated solutions that you might find at home.
Things that are insoluble in water cannot create the saturated solutions. For example, pepper and sand cannot be dissolved in water and therefore cannot create a saturated solution. Like all elements of nature, outdoor solutions tend to find balance in their natural state. Once they are saturated, additional solutes don't affect that balance. A few examples of saturated solutions in nature are:
The outdoor temperature can affect the solubility of these solutions. Warmer weather makes them more soluble, while colder weather slows solubility down. Solutions that aren't saturated are either unsaturated solutions or supersaturated solutions. These solutions can be defined in the following ways:
A bottle of soda is a good way to visualize unsaturated, saturated and supersaturation solutions. Before the bottle of soda is opened, it's supersaturated with carbon dioxide. When you open the bottle, the excess carbon dioxide escapes with bubbles and gas, making the solution saturated. Once the soda has gone flat and uncarbonated, it's unsaturated with carbon dioxide. Saturated solutions are present in our everyday lives, as well as in the chemistry lab. The next time you find chocolate milk powder at the bottom of your cup, you'll know that you've created a supersaturated solution instead of a saturated solution! Learn more about the properties that make up these solutions with these examples of chemical properties.
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