Question

Solid acts as an adsorbent because it has

Answer 1

Hint : We know that the surface of a solid can attract and retain the molecules of the phase when substances come into contact. If these molecules remain only at the surface of the solid and are absorbent, the particles on adsorbent are adsorbate and the phenomenon is called adsorption.

Complete Step By Step Answer:
The accumulation of molecular species at the surface is named as adsorption, which is a surface phenomenon. For example, charcoal, colloids, clay, metals in the finely powdered states act as good adsorbents. The factors influencing adsorption of gases on solids are the surface area of adsorbent: the adsorption process is a surface phenomenon. The surface of the adsorbent is directly proportional to the extent of adsorption. Especially solids like finely grained powdered substances, which have a large surface area exhibit more adsorption.
Solid acts as an adsorbent because of unsaturated valances. Activated charcoal is a great absorbent because of its huge surface area. While it doesn't bind very many ions/atoms/molecules per surface area (which is the characteristic of a 'good' adsorbent), due to very big surface area per unit of mass it can adsorb a lot of particles.

Additional Information:
Nature of gas: every gas is adsorbed on the surface of any solid because physical adsorption is non-specific. Under certain conditions of temperature and pressure, liquefiable gases like ammonia, water are absorbed more than gases like hydrogen, nitrogen.

Note :
Remember that if the molecules are uniformly distributed throughout the solid, this process is absorption, which is completely different from adsorption. For example, when a chalk stick is dipped in ink, the colored surface will be blue while inside the chalk sticks are white.