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Solvent

• Solvent is usually a liquid able to dissolve particular substances.
  
  
• The substance being dissolved is called the solute, which is usually a solid, however can be a liquid or a gas.
  
  
• The solvent containing the dissolved solute together is called a solution.
  
  
• A solution is therefore a homogeneous, single phase (as one) mixture of the solute and solvent.
  
  A liquid with suspended solids (heterogenous mixture), or super fine suspended solids (colloids), are not solutions.
  
  
• The type of substances a solvent is able to dissolve tends to follow the rule where "like dissolves like".
  
  
• There are many kinds of solvents with water being the most common where the dissolving action is termed hydration (see the solvent action of water).