Dissolution, Solvation and Heats of Solution

Many salts dissolve readily in solvents with heats of solvation that are usually small and may be exothermic or endothermic. This dissolution requires the breakdown of the crystal lattice. Crystal lattices often have a high lattice energy. The attractive energy of ions contribute to that lattice energy. Some other process must be evolving energy in order to break down the lattice energy. This energy comes from exothermic reactions between the ions and the solvent molecules. The difference between the solvation energy and the lattice energy is the heat of solvation.

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