Which liquid is termed the ‘universal solvent’?

Matthew_07

Water is called the "universal solvent" because it dissolves more substances than any other liquid. This means that wherever water goes, either through the ground or through our bodies, it takes along valuable chemicals, minerals, and nutrients. http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/waterproperties.html May 15 08, 9:55 PM

dj168

Water. http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00045.htm May 15 08, 10:01 PM

sequoianoir

It's not water in the company I used to work for. It was SPIT / SALIVA. We always refered to Spit as "the universal solvent". Quite frequently we would need to remove visible contaminents with a cotton bud from certain items (4 or 5 types of "dirt" from 4 or 5 sorts of materials - metals/ceramics etc. - so 20+ combinations) and water, acetone, alcohol, tetrachloroethylene and other similar chemicals most likely wouldn't touch it. However SPIT on the cotton bud and frequently it came clean in an instant without any effort. Once "clean" we used alcohol to remove any traces of saliva. JOB DONE ! Not sure what is in it but saliva (human) is DEFINITELY better than water. May 16 08, 4:06 PM