What are the three reason why substance dissolve?
The solvent weakens the ionic or the covalent bond between the constituents of the solid, separates them, and then carries them away from each other. Look up ionising/dissociating/solvating solvent. Look at second paragraph (Solvents and intermolecular interactions) of the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solvation
Generally speaking, dissolution may in principle occur for enthalpic reasons, because the created solute-solvent interactions are stronger than the lost solute-solute and solvent-solvent interactions, but this is rare. Much more commonly, solution is entropically drive, meaning it occurs because of the tremendous increase in entropy when a solute is dispersed in the solvent. Finally, in some cases a chemical reaction may occur between the solute and solvent, and the results of the reaction are more soluble than the original solute.
1) absorption 2) concentration gradient 3) osmosis or diffusion
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