When 50 g of sugar is dissolved in 100 mL of water, there is no increase in volume. Whatcharacteristic of matter is illustrated by this observation?

The observation that dissolving 50 g of sugar in 100 mL of water does not result in an increase in volume illustrates the characteristic of matter known as volume conservation or the principle of volume additivity in solutions.

In a solution, the solute (sugar) and solvent (water) do not simply add their individual volumes together. Instead, the solute particles occupy spaces between the solvent molecules, leading to a total volume that is less than the sum of the individual volumes of solute and solvent. This phenomenon is related to the interactions at the molecular level, as the dissolving process involves breaking intermolecular forces and creating new interactions between the solute and solvent.

This characteristic of matter highlights that materials can interact in ways that do not always conform to intuitive expectations about volume, and shows how the arrangement of particles can influence physical properties.