What property of water contributes to its ability to dissolve many substances?

Water's ability to dissolve a wide variety of substances is largely due to its polarity. The water molecule is polar because it has a bent shape and an unequal distribution of charge; the oxygen atom is more electronegative than the hydrogen atoms, resulting in a partial negative charge near the oxygen and partial positive charges near the hydrogens. This polarity allows water to interact favorably with other polar substances and ionic compounds.

When an ionic compound, such as salt, is placed in water, the positive end of the water molecules (the hydrogen atoms) is attracted to the negatively charged ions, while the negative end (the oxygen atom) is attracted to the positively charged ions. This interaction helps to break apart the ionic bonds in the compound, allowing it to dissolve. Similarly, polar molecules can also dissolve in water due to these dipole interactions.

In contrast, the high boiling point, density, and viscosity of water, while interesting properties, do not directly contribute to its ability to dissolve substances. The high boiling point is a result of strong hydrogen bonding, density is the mass per unit volume, and viscosity refers to the thickness or resistance of a fluid to flow. These properties are significant in other contexts but not in the mechanism of solubility in