∞ generated and posted on 2022.02.03 ∞
Substance dissolved in a solvent such as the solvent, water.
| Whenever there is a solution, no matter its form, then there must be something that serves as a solvent along with something that is dissolved in the solvent, which are one or more Solutes. |
In water solutions, a.k.a., aqueous solutions, solutes tend to be relatively small molecules though larger molecules which are hydrophilic, such a proteins, can be fully suspended in water solutions as colloidal particles rather than being strictly dissolved in water.
In osmosis, water moves from regions of low solute concentration to regions of high solute concentration. This is equivalent – since solute molecules displacewater molecules – to water flowing down its concentration gradient. That is, from regions of high water concentration (= low solute concentration) to regions of low water concentration (= high solute concentration).