Rank the order of water solubility for the following species: #"oxygen gas"#; #"hexanes"#; #"ethanol"#; #"acetic acid"#?
1 Answer
Apr 19, 2016
Of course, they are all going to be soluble in water to some extent. Hexane will be least soluble.
Explanation:
Ethanol and acetic acid are infinitely miscible with water. Of course, oxygen will also possess some considerable solubility in water. As a gas (or normally as a gas) it will be more soluble in colder water (and of course, the liquid oxygen will cool down the water). The least soluble will be hexanes, which will form an immiscible layer with the water. Hexanes is the most hydrophobic (or least hydrophilic), and has negligible solubility in water.
It is a fact that hexanes will also form an immiscible layer with methanol, whereas, it is miscible with ethanol. Can you account for these differential solubilities?
