A Sticky Situation: Chocolate Gum!

A substance's ability to dissolve in a solvent at a given temperature is its solubility. For example, one could see solubility of the solvent oil in the solute water. The oil does not mix with the water, but stays on top of it. However, one could dissolve salt into water.  Solubility differs from solvation, in that solvation is the process of attraction/association of molecules of a solvent with the molecules or ions of a solute. Solubility arose in the Sticky Situation lab. 

A Sticky Situation: Chewing Gum and Solubility lab tested the solubility of various components of chewing gum. There were many different tests; water and sugar, water and oil, oil and sugar, gum and saliva, gum and water then oil, and gum and chocolate with saliva. The results of the liquid mixtures were typical. Whenever the gum and water were mixed, the water dissolved the sugar coating of the gum. When put in oil (with some poking), the gum eventually broke down. In chewing both the gum and chocolate, an ingredient in the chocolate disassociated the gum. 

The different disassociation of gum ultimately have to do with the intermolecular forces with in the gum base polymer. Intermolecular forces are the attractive or repulsive forces between atoms. The forces outside of the molecules must be stronger than the intermolecular forces in order for disassociation to occur. 

In order for one substance to dissolve another there must be similar intermolecular forces. This concept can be summarized by the term "like dissolves like." This concept was observed in the lab in mixtures like the sugar and water.