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I have trouble understanding what solubility means. Merriam-Webster defines it as follows: 1 the quality or state of being soluble 2 the amount of a substance that will dissolve in a given amount of another substance

For this discussion, the "other substance" of #2 will be water. I know that solubility can be represented in g/L (which can be converted in mol/L). Furthermore, when the concentrantion of a solute is equal to its solubility, the solution is said to be "saturated". Now, my first question is what it means for a substance to be sparingly soluble? From what I understand, the will always be a certain quantity of a solute, however small, such that when I put it in water it will be dissolved.

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    $\begingroup$ Such wording as a quantifier isn't very good. It's fuzzy and a bit open to interpretation. It is also a bit ambiguous. So I guess if you want to have a ballpark to play in: the highest concentration is somewhere around 0.1 mol/L or lower, but not as low as like nmol/L or so. But I guess different disciplines do different categories. $\endgroup$
    – Martin - マーチン ♦
    Commented Feb 6 at 19:29
  • $\begingroup$ Highly dependent on the specific field. Few dopants in silicon are soluble much above 1 part per million (5E16/cc), and many non-dopants are soluble at even lower levels. $\endgroup$
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Feb 6 at 19:54
  • $\begingroup$ chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/167106/… $\endgroup$
    – Mithoron
    Commented Feb 6 at 23:22
  • $\begingroup$ hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/14694/… $\endgroup$
    – Mithoron
    Commented Feb 6 at 23:23
  • $\begingroup$ chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/70247/… $\endgroup$
    – Mithoron
    Commented Feb 6 at 23:29

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