Why water is called a universal solvent ?

Universal solvent

• Water is also known as the universal solvent because it dissolves more compounds than any other chemical compound.
• The polarity of each water molecule plays a role in this.
• Each water molecule has a slight positive electric charge on the hydrogen side and a slight negative charge on the oxygen side.
• This helps in the dissociation of ionic substances into positive and negative ions in water.
• The positive portion of an ionic molecule is drawn to the oxygen side of the water, whereas the negative portion is attracted to the hydrogen side.