the.com/solute
the wallflower that vanishes into the crowd yet runs the whole party
means The substance that gets dissolved into a solvent to form a solution — the salt in the seawater, the sugar in the tea.
from From Latin 'solutus,' the past participle of 'solvere,' meaning 'to loosen, untie, dissolve' — built from 'se-' (apart) and 'luere' (to release). The same root unties itself into 'solve,' 'solution,' 'dissolve,' and 'absolve.' 'Solute' as a chemistry term is a modern back-formation, plucked from this old Latin verb to name the thing that's been loosened apart into another.
- definition
- the substance dissolved, not the one doing dissolving
- size matters
- smaller amount than the solvent, by convention
- boiling trick
- adding it raises water's boiling point
- freezing trick
- also lowers freezing point, hence road salt
- any state
- can be solid, liquid, or gas
salt in seawater — sodium chloride comprises ~35 parts per thousand dissolved in ocean water
glucose in blood — humans maintain 70-100 mg/dl of glucose dissolved in bloodstream
calcium carbonate in caves — dissolved limestone creates stalagmites and stalactites in karst caverns like mammoth cave