Well, this question has been sitting here for at least two days and if I don't answer it nobody will.
When you pour common table salt, sodium chloride, into water it is in a lattice structure. With sodium ions ( Na^+) interspersed between chloride ions (Cl^-) Now water begins to jiggle in between the ions of this structure and the slightly positive end of the water molecule ( the hydrogen ends ) begin to surround the negative chloride ions and bring them into the solution. This is called solvation, This also happens with the positive sodium ions as they are surrounded by water molecules with the slightly negative end of the water molecule, the oxygen end.
The whole lattice is reduced in this fashion and the salt is then considered dissolved.
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