Mixture of liquids (miscibility)

Miscibility refers to making a solution of liquids.

If two liquids mix in any proportions we call them miscible.

If they don’t they are immiscible.

The picture  shows two immiscible liquids. These are liquids with very different IMFs, for example oil (long hydrocarbon chain, non-polar) and water (polar, H-bonding).  Again, “like dissolves like,” “like is miscible with like.”

When you are deciding what molecules are alike, look at the intermolecular forces. For example, CH3OH (methanol) is an alcohol that is miscible with water. Both are polar and both have H-bonds. However, you might think that methanol is more like CH4 (methane) since it is only different due to the missing oxygen atom. However methane is completely different. It is non-polar and has very weak dispersion forces. As such it is a gas not a liquid! It is also only sparingly soluble in water.


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