🥤✨

What Dissolves and What Doesn't?

Stir sugar into water and it seems to vanish. But where did it go? Let's become solubility detectives!

By the end you'll know why some things disappear in water and others just sit there.

The word: dissolve

When something dissolves, it breaks into pieces so tiny that you can't see them anymore. They spread out and hide between the bits of water — but they are still there!

Tap the spoon to stir and watch the sugar dissolve.

Give the spoon a tap! 🥄

Meet the team 🤝

Dissolving needs two helpers. Tap each card to learn its job.

💧
Solvent
The liquid that does the dissolving. Usually water!

tap me

🧂
Solute
The thing that disappears into the water, like salt or sugar.

tap me

Solute + Solvent = Solution!

Sugar (solute) + Water (solvent) = sweet water (solution) 🥤

Detective challenge 🕵️

Drag each thing into the right tub. Does it dissolve in water, or not?

💧 Dissolves

🚫 Stays whole

🧂 Salt
🍬 Sugar
🪨 Sand
🛢️ Cooking oil
🧃 Drink powder
🪵 Small pebble
Drag a card into a tub to start. ✋

Why won't they go in? 🤔

Not everything likes water. Tap each one to find out why it stays whole.

🛢️ Oil floats on top
Oil and water don't mix — oil bits won't break apart in water, so the oil gathers and floats. We say oil is insoluble in water.
🪨 Sand sinks to the bottom
Sand grains are too tough to break into invisible pieces. They just sit there — also insoluble.
New word: insoluble = will NOT dissolve. Soluble = WILL dissolve. 🎓

Speed tricks ⚡

Soluble things can be hurried up. Tap each trick to test it on our sugar timer.

Pick a trick below! ⏱️
Stirring, warmer water, and smaller pieces all make soluble things dissolve faster. 🚀

Can water get full? 🫗

Yes! Keep adding sugar and the water can't take any more — extra sugar piles at the bottom. That's called saturated.

Tap "Add sugar" and watch the glass fill up.

0 spoons in
Keep going until it's full…

You decide! 🧠

You drop a pebble into a glass of water and wait a long time. What happens?

It disappears like sugar
It sinks and stays whole
It turns the water into rock

Why? A pebble is insoluble — it can't break into invisible pieces, so it just sits at the bottom. 🪨

🌟🔬

Brilliant work, detective!

Here's everything you cracked today:

💧 Dissolve
To break into pieces too tiny to see — still there, just hidden.
🤝 The team
Solute + Solvent = Solution.
✅ Soluble
Salt, sugar, drink powder go in.
🚫 Insoluble
Sand, oil, pebbles stay whole.
⚡ Faster
Stir, warm water, crush smaller.
🫗 Saturated
Full water can't take any more.

Try at home (with a grown-up): Stir a spoon of salt and a spoon of sand into two cups of water. Watch which one disappears! 🧂🪨