text: The apparent molar volume of salt is usually less than the molar volume of the solid salt. For instance, solid NaCl has a volume of 27 cm per mole, but the apparent molar volume at low concentrations is only 16.6 cc/mole. In fact, some aqueous electrolytes have negative apparent molar volumes: NaOH −6.7, LiOH −6.0, and NaCO −6.7 cm/mole. This means that their solutions in a given amount of water have a smaller volume than the same amount of pure water. (The effect is small, however.) The physical reason is that nearby water molecules are strongly attracted to the ions so that they occupy less space.