---
title: "Dissolving & Solutions"
description: "Understand that some materials dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution by evaporation"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/dissolving-and-solutions-mt_Mf-T-fYRLX
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/dissolving-and-solutions-mt_Mf-T-fYRLX.md
retrieved: 2026-10-19
---

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# Dissolving & Solutions

Understand that some materials dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution by evaporation

Subject: Science · Area: Matter & Materials · Ages 9 to 10
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/dissolving-and-solutions-mt_Mf-T-fYRLX

## Ready when they can

- Explain that dissolving means a solid mixes completely into a liquid to form a solution
- Describe how to recover a dissolved substance by evaporating the liquid
- Distinguish between a mixture (can see separate parts) and a solution (looks clear, fully dissolved)

## Lesson: Dissolving and solutions

You already know that dissolving mixes a solid completely into a liquid. Look closer now at what that mixture becomes. When sugar dissolves in tea, you cannot see the sugar anymore, but it is still there. The tea stays clear, with no solid bits floating in it. This kind of mix is called a solution.

**Example.** Mia stirs a spoonful of salt into a glass of water. At first she sees small white grains. After stirring, the grains vanish and the water looks clear. Mia has made a salt solution.

*(drawing: Watch the salt vanish step by step. It does not disappear. It spreads through the water in pieces too tiny to see, and the water stays clear.)*

**Tip.** A mixture with visible bits, like sand in water, is not a solution. A true solution looks clear and smooth all the way through, even though something is dissolved inside it.

You can get the dissolved solid back. Leave the solution somewhere warm and let the liquid evaporate. As the liquid turns to vapor and drifts away, the solid stays behind. Evaporate the water from salty water, and solid salt is left in the container.

Not every mix is a solution. If you can still see bits, like sand sitting at the bottom of a glass, the solid never dissolved and you have a mixture, not a solution. A filter can catch those undissolved bits, but a dissolved solid slips right through the filter with the water. To get a dissolved solid back, evaporate the liquid instead.

**Recap.** Dissolving mixes a solid completely into a liquid to make a clear solution, and evaporating the liquid brings the dissolved solid back.

## Practice

24 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Changes & Separation Vocabulary](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/changes-and-separation-vocabulary-mt_ahSqW_kK1b)
- [Advanced Material Properties](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/advanced-material-properties-mt_Ge4Wtg6QMM)
- [Evaporation & the Water Cycle](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/evaporation-and-the-water-cycle-mt_Qkewo5M3_c)

## Opens up

- [Why Some Things Dissolve and Others Do Not](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/why-some-things-dissolve-and-others-do-not-mt__njIrlqqqL)
- [Separating Mixtures](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/separating-mixtures-mt_2b6CB0w3Yx)
- [Pure Substances & Mixtures](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/pure-substances-and-mixtures-mt_MBTVB-E-S7)
- [Reversible Changes](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/reversible-changes-mt_UKmtuAsSLN)
- [Concentration of Solutions in Moles per Cubic Decimetre](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/concentration-of-solutions-in-moles-per-cubic-decimetre-mt_vRK78ynnXb)