What properties of water make it useful as a solvent? What types of compound can it (i) dissolve and (ii) hydrolyse?

Explanation

Water has a high dielectric constant (78.39) and high dipole moment (1.84D). Because of these properties water has the capacity to dissolve most of the inorganic substances, ionic as well as covalent and is, therefore, regarded as a universal solvent. Ionic compounds dissolve in water due to ion-dipole interactions or solvation of ions whereas covalent compounds such as urea, glucose, amines, alcohols, sugar, etc., dissolve in water due to hydrogen bonding. Water can easily hydrolyse many ionic and covalent compounds of metals and non-metals. In these reactions, `H^+` and `OH^-` ions of water interact with anions and cations of compounds to form acids and bases. For example,
`CaO(s) + H_2 O (l) to Ca(OH)_2 (aq)`
`SO_2 (g) + H_2 O(l) to H_2 SO_3 (aq) `
`P_4 O_(10) (s) + 6H_2 O(l) to 4H_3 PO_4 (aq)`
`CaH_2 (s) + 2H_2 O(l) to Ca(OH)_2 (aq) + 2H_2 (g)`
`CaC_2(s) + 2H_2 O(l) to Ca(OH)_2 (aq) + underset("acetylene")(C_2H_2)`