Inchemistry, amixture is amaterial made up of two or more different chemical substances which can be separated by physical method. It is an impure substance made up of 2 or more elements or compounds mechanically mixed together in any proportion.[1] A mixture is the physical combination of two or more substances in which the identities are retained and are mixed in the form ofsolutions,suspensions orcolloids.[2][3]
Mixtures are one product of mechanically blending or mixing chemical substances such aselements andcompounds, without chemical bonding or other chemical change, so that each ingredient substance retains its own chemical properties and makeup.[4] Despite the fact that there are no chemical changes to its constituents, the physical properties of a mixture, such as itsmelting point, may differ from those of the components. Some mixtures can beseparated into their components by using physical (mechanical or thermal) means.Azeotropes are one kind of mixture that usually poses considerable difficulties regarding the separation processes required to obtain their constituents (physical or chemical processes or, even a blend of them).[5][6][7]
The substances in a mixture can be separated using physical methods such as filtration, freezing, and distillation.
There is little or no energy change when a mixture forms (seeEnthalpy of mixing).
The substances in a mixture keep their separate properties.
In the example of sand and water, neither one of the two substances changed in any way when they are mixed. Although the sand is in the water it still keeps the same properties that it had when it was outside the water.
mixtures have variable compositions, while compounds have a fixed, definite formula.
when mixed, individual substances keep their properties in a mixture, while if they form a compound their properties can change.[10]
The following table shows the main properties and examples for all possible phase combinations of the three "families" of mixtures :
A diagram representing at the microscopic level the differences between homogeneous mixtures, heterogeneous mixtures, compounds, and elements.
Mixtures can be eitherhomogeneous orheterogeneous: a mixture of uniform composition and in which all components are in the same phase, such as salt in water, is called homogeneous, whereas a mixture of non-uniform composition and of which the components can be easily identified, such as sand in water, it is called heterogeneous.
In addition, "uniform mixture" is another term forhomogeneous mixture and "non-uniform mixture" is another term forheterogeneous mixture. These terms are derived from the idea that ahomogeneous mixture has auniform appearance, oronly one phase, because the particles are evenly distributed. However, aheterogeneous mixture has constituent substances that are in different phases andeasily distinguishable from one another. In addition, a heterogeneous mixture may have a uniform (e.g. a colloid) or non-uniform (e.g. a pencil) composition.
Several solid substances, such assalt andsugar, dissolve in water to form homogeneous mixtures or "solutions", in which there are both asolute (dissolved substance) and asolvent (dissolving medium) present.Air is an example of a solution as well: a homogeneous mixture of gaseous nitrogen solvent, in which oxygen and smaller amounts of other gaseous solutes are dissolved. Mixtures are not limited in either their number of substances or the amounts of those substances, though in most solutions, the solute-to-solvent proportion can only reacha certain point before the mixture separates and becomes heterogeneous.
A homogeneous mixture is characterized by uniform dispersion of its constituent substances throughout; the substances exist in equal proportion everywhere within the mixture. Differently put, a homogeneous mixture will be the same no matter from where in the mixture it is sampled. For example, if a solid-liquid solution is divided into two halves of equalvolume, the halves will contain equalamounts of both the liquid medium and dissolved solid (solvent and solute)
Asolution is equivalent to a "homogeneous mixture". In solutions, solutes will not settle out after any period of time and they cannot be removed by physical methods, such as a filter orcentrifuge.[12] As a homogeneous mixture, a solution has one phase (solid, liquid, or gas), although the phase of the solute and solvent may initially have been different (e.g., salt water).
Gases exhibit by far the greatest space (and, consequently, the weakest intermolecular forces) between their atoms or molecules; since intermolecular interactions are minuscule in comparison to those in liquids and solids, dilute gases very easily form solutions with one another. Air is one such example: it can be more specifically described as a gaseous solution of oxygen and other gases dissolved in nitrogen (its major component).
Examples of heterogeneous mixtures areemulsions andfoams. In most cases, the mixture consists of two main constituents. For an emulsion, these areimmiscible fluids such as water and oil. For a foam, these are a solid and a fluid, or a liquid and a gas. On larger scales both constituents are present in any region of the mixture, and in a well-mixed mixture in the same or only slightly varying concentrations. On a microscopic scale, however, one of the constituents is absent in almost any sufficiently small region. (If such absence is common on macroscopic scales, the combination of the constituents is adispersed medium, not a mixture.) One can distinguish different characteristics of heterogeneous mixtures by the presence or absence ofcontinuum percolation of their constituents. For a foam, a distinction is made betweenreticulated foam in which one constituent forms a connected network through which the other can freely percolate, or a closed-cell foam in which one constituent is present as trapped in small cells whose walls are formed by the other constituents. A similar distinction is possible for emulsions. In many emulsions, one constituent is present in the form of isolated regions of typically a globular shape, dispersed throughout the other constituent. However, it is also possible each constituent forms a large, connected network. Such a mixture is then calledbicontinuous.[13]
Making a distinction between homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures is a matter of the scale of sampling. On a coarse enough scale, any mixture can be said to be homogeneous, if the entire article is allowed to count as a "sample" of it. On a fine enough scale, any mixture can be said to be heterogeneous, because a sample could be as small as a single molecule. In practical terms, if the property of interest of the mixture is the same regardless of which sample of it is taken for the examination used, the mixture is homogeneous.
where,,,, and are respectively: the heterogeneity of theth particle of the population, the mass concentration of the property of interest in theth particle of the population, the mass concentration of the property of interest in the population, the mass of theth particle in the population, and the average mass of a particle in the population.
Duringsampling of heterogeneous mixtures of particles, the variance of thesampling error is generally non-zero.
Pierre Gy derived, from the Poisson sampling model, the following formula for the variance of the sampling error in the mass concentration in a sample:
in whichV is the variance of the sampling error,N is the number of particles in the population (before the sample was taken),qi is the probability of including theith particle of the population in the sample (i.e. thefirst-order inclusion probability of theith particle),mi is the mass of theith particle of the population andai is the mass concentration of the property of interest in theith particle of the population.
The above equation for the variance of the sampling error is an approximation based on alinearization of the mass concentration in a sample.
In the theory of Gy,correct sampling is defined as a sampling scenario in which all particles have the same probability of being included in the sample. This implies thatqi no longer depends on i, and can therefore be replaced by the symbol q. Gy's equation for the variance of the sampling error becomes:
whereabatch is that concentration of the property of interest in the population from which the sample is to be drawn andMbatch is the mass of the population from which the sample is to be drawn.
Air pollution research[15][16] show biological and health effects after exposure to mixtures are more potent than effects from exposures of individual components.[17]
^Whitten K.W., Gailey K. D. and Davis R. E. (1992).General chemistry (4th ed.). Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing.ISBN978-0-03-072373-5.[page needed]
^Ashworth, William; Little, Charles E. (2001). "Solution (chemistry)".Encyclopedia of Studies, New Edition. Online publisher: Science Online. Facts on File, Inc.
^Sahimi, Muhammad (26 May 2006).Heterogeneous Materials I: Linear Transport and Optical Properties. Springer. p. 31.ISBN978-0-387-21705-5.
^Gy, P (1979).Sampling of Particulate Materials: Theory and Practice. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
