∞ generated and posted on 2016.11.13 ∞
| An Aqueous Solution is a solution (stuff dissolved in something else) that is based on an aqueous solvent, that is, water. Aqueous Solutions essentially consist of a combination of water and whatever is dissolved in that water. |
Specifically, one or more solutes is dissolved in the solvent, water.
The chemistry of aqueous solutions considers differences in substance solubilities as well as equilibria between the dissolved and not-dissolved state, with appropriate solubility constants.
Hydrophilic substances will have larger solubility constants whereas hydrophobic substances will have smaller solubility constants. The degree of attraction between ions in salts versus attraction to water also will determine solubility.
Most biochemical reactions occur within aqueous solutions and the functioning of most macromolecules is intimately linked to their suspension within aqueous solutions.
Life, at least as we know it, is based upon aqueous solutions. The interior of cells, cytosol, is an aqueous solutions. Lipid bilayers are suspended within aqueous solutions. Colloidal substances such as proteins, whether found within cells or external to cells, are suspended in aqueous solutions. Your blood is an aqueous solution as so too is your lymph and interstitial fluid. Indeed, all body fluids are aqueous solutions. Most living things live within aqueous solutions whether salt water, fresh water, or brackish solutions.
You are an aqueous solution.