The Extraordinary Properties Of Ordinary Solutions | Yu.Ya.Fialkov

Why is it that the mixture has to be dissolved for the reaction to take place?

The answer is, Corpora non agunt soluta, which is the Latin for "Bodies (substances) do not react unless dissolved". Alchemists discovered this rule many centuries ago. We take it for granted that chemical reactions take place in solutions, but hold this fact at the back of our minds or even completely forget about it. As chemists well know, 199 reactions out of 200 can only take place in solution.

The title of this book promises to take up some extraordinary properties of solutions. Some readers may disagree with the choice of the word. They may argue, for example, that there is nothing extraordinary in the fact that salt solutions can conduct electricity or that a solution would freeze at a lower temperature than a pure solvent. Science has explanations for everything, they may add, what is unclear today will be clarified tomorrow.
Nothing extraordinary? Well, it depends. It depends on how you look at things. Here is a tree, an ordinary tree. But if you stop to think of how its luxuriant foliage has grown out of carbon dioxide and water, you will feel it is a wonder.

The book was translated from the Russian by Boris V. Kuznetsov and was published first by Mir in 1985. The book says it is part of series Scientists to Schoolchildren, I do not about any other books in this series.

Many thanks to gnv64 for this amazing book!

Table of Contents:

Contents
On Dry Lemonade and About This Book 6
What is a Solution? 9
Midway Between Gases and Crystalline Solids 10
Water-Puzzling and Extraordinary 18
From the Physicist's Point of View 32
Those Dissociating into Ions 49
Acids and Bases-is This Simple as That? 60
Ions in Solutions 69
Flow of Current Through a Solution 77
Solubility 90
"Not in Water Alone" 93
Is There Life Outside Earth? 97