Does temperature affect solubility?
Pupils were asked to plan an investigation to find out if temperature affects the solubility
of a solvent.
Alice
Prediction
More sugar will dissolve in the hot water because we put sugar in tea and it tastes nice
and you cannot feel the sugar. Hot water particles have lots of energy and crash into the
sugar grain making it break up and dissolve more.
Description of method
 During registration go to the lab and put some water in a beaker and leave it get to
room temperature by lesson time.
 Weigh out about 10g of sugar into a beaker and use a balance to find out its mass
at eh beginning.
 Measure 10cm3 of water that is at room temperature with a measuring cylinder
and place it in a test tube.
 Add small amounts of sugar bit by bit until no more dissolves. This is now a
saturated solution.
 Weigh the beaker plus the remaining sugar
 Work out how much sugar dissolved in the water

Repeat the experiment but put the test tube of water in water bath that is set to
40C
List of equipment
Beaker (100 cm3)
Measuring cylinder
Test tube and bung
Sugar
Water bath set to 40C
Balance
Spatula
Fair test
Only change the temperature. Keep all other variables the same. Use the same volume of
water each time and shake the test tube every time you add a spatula of sugar
Tom
Prediction
More sugar will dissolve in the hot water
Description of the method
 During registration go to the lab and put some water in a beaker and leave it
get to room temperature by lesson time.
 Put 10g of sugar in another beaker
 Half fill a test tube with water
 Keep adding sugar until no more will go in
 Use a balance to see how much sugar is left and work out how much has gone
into the water
 Repeat using water taken from the water bath
List of equipment
Beakers, sugar, test tube, balance, water bath
Fair test
Keep everything the same except change the temperature of the water