At room temperature, it is a nearly colorless, flavorless, and odorless liquid. Many substances dissolve in water and it is commonly seen as "the universal solvent"; because of this, water in nature and in use is rarely clean, and may have some properties different than those in the laboratory. But there are many compounds that are essentially, if not completely, insoluble in water. Water is the only common, pure substance found naturally in all three states of matter—for other substances, see Chemical properties.