When 50 ml of ethanol and 50 ml of water are mixed predict whether the volume of the solution is equal to greater than or less than 100 ml?

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New crystal, ku crystal, do you guys know it?

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GBL (Gamma-Butyrolactone)

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If you add 50 mL of water to 50 mL of water you get 100 mL of water. Similarly, if you add 50 mL of ethanol (alcohol) to 50 mL of ethanol you get 100 mL of ethanol. But, if you mix 50 mL of water and 50 mL of ethanol you get approximately 96 mL of liquid, not 100 mL. Why?

The answer has to do with the different sizes of the water and ethanol molecules. Ethanol molecules are smaller than water molecules, so when the two liquids are mixed together the ethanol falls between the spaces left by the water. It's similar to what happens when you mix a liter of sand and a liter of rocks. You get less than two liters total volume because the sand fell between the rocks, right? Think of miscibility as "mixability" and it's easy to remember. Fluid volumes (liquids and gasses) aren't necessarily additive. Intermolecular forces (hydrogen bonding, London dispersion forces, dipole-dipole forces) also play their part in miscibility, but that's another story.

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Text Solution

Solution : In both ethanol and water, the molecules are hydrogen bonded. When these are mized to form the solution, the molecules of one liquid will tend to break the hydrogen bonds in the molecules of the other liquid and vice versa. The attractive forces in the molecules decrese and this leads to increase in volume `(DeltaV_(mixing) is +ve). Therefore, the volume of the solution is more than 100 mL.