Explain why and how the polar covalent bonds found in water molecules are responsible for water's ability to dissolve many substances, particularly ionic compounds such as salt.

Part A: Water molecules are polar, meaning that they are neutrally charged overall, but with partial positive charges on the H atoms and a partial negative charge on the O atom. Thus, polar molecules like the salt, are like the water, neutrally charged and its ions interact with both the partially positive and partially negative parts of the H2O molecules.
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Part B: In a dissolution of salt in water, the solvent is the water and solute is the salt. Solvent is a substance that allows the dispersion of another substance in itself, like the water in this solution. A solute is a substance that can be dissolved, dispersed in a solvent.