What does the term "hydrophobic" refer to in aqueous solutions?

The term "hydrophobic" refers to substances that do not interact well with water. This is because hydrophobic compounds are typically nonpolar, meaning they do not have regions of positive and negative charge that can form favorable interactions with water molecules. In aqueous solutions, water tends to exclude hydrophobic substances, leading to phenomena such as the separation of oil and water.

This property of hydrophobic substances is important in various chemical and biological contexts, such as in the formation of cellular membranes, where hydrophobic tails of lipids face inward, away from water, contributing to the stability of the cell structure. The other choices refer to either properties of polar substances, such as solubility and interactions with water, or changes to physical properties of water, which do not apply to the hydrophobic nature of compounds.