# Is there any solvent for which the solubility of sodium chloride is greater than that of water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404 "2012-05-29T00:50:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![supery00n](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@supery00n](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supery00n)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/1 "2012-05-29T00:50:26Z")
I’ve done a lot of Google searches and can’t seem to find any information as to whether there is any solvent, either polar or nonpolar (or inorganic vs. organic), for which the solubility of sodium chloride exceeds that for water. Any chemists out there or anyone who has an idea about this? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/2 "2012-05-29T01:08:37Z")
Anhydrous liquid ammonia? Molten sodium? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/3 "2012-05-29T01:09:25Z")
salt has very strong ionic bonds. water is a very strong polar solvent. none better that i know of. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/4 "2012-05-29T01:14:40Z")
HOT water? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/5 "2012-05-29T02:07:29Z")
Other ionic salts in the melt? ---
**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/6 "2012-05-29T05:20:12Z")
I don’t believe that solubility is the property that you trying to measure in terms of the effectiveness of a given solvent. The solvent property, if I recall properly, is dielectric constant which measures the ability of the solvent to ionize the particular compound. In effect this has to do with the activity coefficient (too lazy and don’t have my textbooks at home) and the Debye-Huckel limiting law, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/7 "2012-05-29T21:23:52Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > HOT water? In fact, salt dissolves slightly more in cold than hot water, unlike most solutes. Molten NaCl? ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/8 "2012-05-29T21:45:26Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > In fact, salt dissolves slightly more in cold than hot water, unlike most solutes. > > Molten NaCl? I always though the opposite was true; [according to this site](http://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/sstutorial/Text11/Tx112/tx112.html) (table near bottom of page), solubility is higher in warm water ([Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solubility#Factors_affecting_solubility) says the same thing). Also, molten NaCl is the same thing as sodium chloride so it doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/9 "2012-05-29T22:41:32Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > In fact, salt dissolves slightly more in cold than hot water, unlike most solutes. You might be thinking of calcium carbonate, which is more soluble in cold water than warm. Sodium chloride is more soluble in warm water than cold. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/10 "2012-05-30T08:47:21Z")
I was going to suggest molten potassium chloride. I would expect that the NaCl-KCl phase diagram has a single molten phase. Probably cheating though since NaCl would be liquid also at those elevated temps and it is adifeerent situation from how we normally think of dissolving. Liquid liquid solubility is a different category from liquid solid solubility. You might get some success with liquified HF. Highly polar amd the same exposed H+ions. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/11 "2012-05-30T11:17:48Z")
> [@Waterman](#): > > The solvent property, if I recall properly, is dielectric constant which measures the ability of the solvent to ionize the particular compound. While solvents with a higher dielectric constant are more likely to dissolve polar substances, that’s not what the dielectric constant is a measure of. [Relative permittivity - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric_constant) ---
**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/12 "2012-06-04T17:54:28Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > While solvents with a higher dielectric constant are more likely to dissolve polar substances, that’s not what the dielectric constant is a measure of. [Relative permittivity - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric_constant) In a theoretical sense I’m quite certain you are correct; however, in my posting I was referring to the fact that the dielectric constant of the solvent (ε) is used to define the mean ionic activity coefficient in the Debye-Huckel limiting law as defined here: > **[Debye–Hückel theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debye%E2%80%93H%C3%BCckel_theory)** > > The Debye–Hückel theory was proposed by Peter Debye and Erich Hückel as a theoretical explanation for departures from ideality in solutions of electrolytes and plasmas. > It is a linearized Poisson–Boltzmann model, which assumes an extremely simplified model of electrolyte solution but nevertheless gave accurate predictions of mean activity coefficients for ions in dilute solution. The Debye–Hückel equation provides a starting point for modern treatments of non-ideality of electrolyte solutions In... ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-solvent-for-which-the-solubility-of-sodium-chloride-is-greater-than-that-of-water/623404/13 "2012-06-04T19:38:22Z")
> [@j\_sum1](#): > > I was going to suggest molten potassium chloride. I would expect that the NaCl-KCl phase diagram has a single molten phase. Probably cheating though since NaCl would be liquid also at those elevated temps and it is adifeerent situation from how we normally think of dissolving. Liquid liquid solubility is a different category from liquid solid solubility. > You might get some success with liquified HF. Highly polar amd the same exposed H+ions. As I suggested earlier, what about molten sodium metal? Melts just below the boiling point of water, well below the melting/disassociation temperature of NaCl.