At room temperature, the solubility of table salt in water is 359 g/L of water. If a solution was prepared at a high temperature with 40 g of table salt in 100 mL of water and then cooled back to room temperature, what would be the best description of the resulting solution assuming that no precipitate was formed?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A supersaturated solution is a solution that contains more solute than it can normally hold at a given temperature. When a solution is cooled, the solubility of the solute decreases. This means that the solution can no longer hold all of the solute, and some of it will precipitate out of solution. However, if the solution is cooled slowly enough, it is possible to prevent the solute from precipitating out of solution. This is called supersaturation.

At Room Temperature, the Solubility of Table Salt in Water