Solubility

__**Solubility:**__ the ability of a solid, liquid, or gaseous substance to dissolve in another solid, gaseous or liquid substance.

When talking about solubility there are other terms to be aware of: __**Solute:**__ the solid, liquid, or gas that dissolves in a solvent __**Solvent:**__ a substance, often a liquid, capable of dissolving one or more pure substances __**Solution:**__ A homogenous (of uniform competition) mixture of a solvent and one or more solutes
 * __Aqueous solution:__** solutions in which water is the solvent

You also need to keep in mind the "like dissolves like" rule, which tells us from molecular structure, which compounds would be most likely to dissolve in other compounds (with similar molecular structures).

The solubility of a substance depends on the solvent, as well as other situational factors such as temperature and pressure.



Environmental Consequences of Solubility:
 * The sodium and potassium halide ions from salt deposits:
 * Soluble salts
 * Dissolve from the land and wash into the sea
 * Oceans are salty and cannot be used for drinking
 * Nitrate ions found in agricultural fertilizers:
 * Soluble
 * The nitrates in fertilized fields are carried into surface and groundwater
 * Toxic
 * Sulfid and oxide ions found in metal ores:
 * Insoluble (mostly)
 * Minerals containing iron, copper and zinc are often sulfides and oxides
 * If these minerals were soluble they would wash out to see
 * Mercury and lead ions found in mining waste:
 * Insoluble (mostly)
 * Slowly dissolved from waste piles into rivers and lakes
 * Contaminate those water supplies