How do you do well in the water module?
I'm finding that module really hard and I don't want to drop chemistry in the future. I feel that I don't have that level of understanding in chemistry
Also
1. why does alcohol dissolve in both polar and non polar?
2. Why does water dissolve covalent compounds?
Thanks
The first question is more of a production of materials question that draws on knowledge for water.
As a rule of thumb, likes dissolve likesThe hydroxyl group (-OH) can be involved with extensive hydrogen bonding between other O, N and F molecules. Because the -OH is also polar, it also engages in dipole-dipole interactions with other polar molecules.
But the long carbon chain is non-polar. The linear non-polar chain is what will dissolve with other non-polar substances such as alkanes, through dispersion forces.
(Dispersion forces are as a result of one side of the molecule temporarily becoming more polar than the other, thereby forming a dipole. Dipole-dipole interactions happen when there is a permanent dipole going on. Hydrogen bonding is only separate from dipole-dipole interactions because it's much stronger; about 1/10 the strength of an actual covalent bond)
Q2 is wrong. Water dissolves
certain covalent compounds. It does not dissolve stuff like methane or propane.
The covalent compounds it dissolves are all
polar because water IS a polar molecule