Is NaCl aqueous?

[KOBTstronginteraction]

Is sodium chloride considered aqueous? I'm kind of new to chemistry, and from what I know, aqueous means something is readily dissolved in water. Does this mean it is both a solid and aqueous?

I'm guessing yes, but this wouldn't look right: NaCl (s) (aq)

Thanks.

[Amaton]

I'm kind of new to chemistry, and from what I know, aqueous means something is readily dissolved in water.

 

Not exactly. If you see that a particular substance is "aqueous", then you should assume that the substance is actually in solution, more specifically an aqueous solution (i.e. the solvent is water). Whether or not something "can / cannot / maybe so" dissolve in water has to do with different terminology.

 

It's like the three common states of matter. Typically in a lab, you're not going to talk about whether a sample of water could be frozen, liquid, or gaseous. You want to know its actual state, what form it's in.

 

Likewise, if a substance is completely dissolved in water, then you have water molecules separating and surrounding the particles of that substance. You can't really say whether the substance itself is in solid, liquid, or gas phase. None of those three terms really describe a kind of state where you have individual particles freely floating around in solution, so we say it's aqueous if the solvent is water.

Edited October 6, 2013 by Amaton

[Borek]

Sodium chloride is either solid - when it is solid, or aqueous - when it is dissolved. "Just sodium chloride" doesn't say anything about whether it is solid or aqueous.

[John Cuthber]

Sodium chloride is either solid - when it is solid, or aqueous - when it is dissolved.

Or not, if it's molten or dissolved in something other than water.

Aqueous is a word that is used to describe solutions: it means that they are solutions in water.