Science Common Sense

194 - What is the difference between a solvent and a solute?

Imagine you're making a lemonade.

A solvent is a liquid that helps to dissolve something else. In your lemonade, water is the solvent because it helps dissolve the sugar and lemon juice.

A solute is the thing that gets dissolved. In this case, the sugar and lemon juice are the solutes because they get mixed and dissolved into the water.

So, the solvent (water) helps the solute (sugar and lemon juice) to mix together and make a yummy drink.