MIXTURES



Elements and compounds are pure substances, but much of the material around us—including air, wood, soil, and even (in most cases) water—appears in the form of a mixture. Unlike a pure substance, a mixture has variable composition: in other words, it cannot be reduced to a single type of atom or molecule. Mixtures can be either homogeneous—that is, uniform in appearance, and having only one phase—or heterogeneous, meaning that the mixture is separated into various regions with differing properties. Most homogeneous mixtures are also known as solutions, and examples of these include air, coffee, and even metal alloys. As for heterogeneous mixtures, these occur, for instance, when sand or oil are placed in water. Oil can, however, be dispersed in water as an emulsion, with the aid of a surfactant or emulsifier, and the result is an almost homogeneous mixture. Another interesting example of a heterogeneous mixture occurs when colloids are suspended in fluid, whether that fluid be air or water.

User Contributions:

1
ganesh
this articles are really good , can u put some uses of mixing of two immiscible liquids

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