Can salt dissolve in oil?

In this brief guide, we are going to answer the question “can salt dissolve in oil” and provide answers on what happens when salt is added to the oil. 

Can salt dissolve in oil?

No, salt cannot dissolve in oil. Oil is hydrophobic, made up of unsaturated fatty acids that are not charged, making it non-polar. Meanwhile, salt or sodium chloride is polar which makes the interaction between oil and salt impossible. Here, the salt is a polar solute and the oil is a non-polar solvent. 

Why does salt not dissolve in oil?

The chemical name of salt is sodium chloride and it is important to understand the chemistry of salt and oil. Na and Cl molecules form an ionic bond. On the other hand, non-polar solvents like oil are made of long chains of fatty acids that have similar electronegativities. Salt has a large difference in electronegativity. 

So, what happens is that the molecules of the solute and the solvent try to reduce the surface contact between them. This resonates with the idiom that says “birds of a feather flock together”. If their chemical properties are similar, they are more likely to interact properly. Therefore a polar compound like table salt cannot combine with a non-polar compound like oil.  

Other FAQs about Salt which you may be interested in.

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What happens when you put salt in oil?

When you add salt to the oil you will notice that the salt sinks to the bottom in the form of a blob. This blob contains a mixture of salt and oil. This is an interesting phenomenon to observe and it could be a fun science experiment that can be carried out to see how polar solutes interact with non-polar solvents. 

Why does salt dissolve in water?

Water is known to be a universal solvent. Water is made up of two hydrogens and one oxygen and they are covalently bonded to each other. It has a bent structure due to a slight positive charge on the hydrogen atom and a slight negative charge on the oxygen atoms. This, in turn, makes water polar.

 As we have already discussed before, similar chemical properties of two substances make the interaction easier. Salt combines with water because the covalent bond is stronger than the ionic bond present between Na and Cl atoms. The negatively charged chloride ions are attracted to the positive side of the water molecules and the positively charged sodium ions are attracted to the negative side of the water molecules. This results in a homogenous (uniformly mixed) solution. This process is called solvation. 

In this brief guide, we answered the question “can salt dissolve oil” and provided answers on what happens when salt is added to the oil. 

If you have any comments or questions please let us know.

REFERENCES

  1. https://www.leaf.tv/articles/why-does-salt-dissolve-in-water-but-not-oil/
  2. https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/water-molecules-and-their-interaction-salt-molecules#:~:text=When%20salt%20is%20mixed%20with,bonds%20in%20the%20salt%20molecules.&text=Once%20this%20happens%2C%20the%20salt,resulting%20in%20a%20homogeneous%20solution.

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