What are solvents?

A solvent is like a super helper that makes things mix together easily.

Imagine you have a cup of water and you drop in a spoonful of sugar. The sugar starts to disappear because the water is helping it melt and spread out, that’s the solvent at work! Water is often the solvent, but there are many others, like oil or alcohol.

A solvent helps other things (called solute) mix with it. It's kind of like a friend who helps two people get along better. If you want to make lemonade, water is the solvent, and the lemon juice is the solute.

You see solvents every day:

• When you brush your teeth, toothpaste mixes with water because water is the solvent.
• When you mix food coloring into a cup of water, the water helps spread out the color, again, it's the solvent doing the job.

Solvents are like invisible helpers in many everyday things, they make mixing simple and fun!