TYPES OF MIXTURES

Mixture

A mixture is formed of little bits of one or more substances mixed together. Usually, the parts can be
separated from each other by physical means, because it does not involve any chemical reactions or
bonds.

A mixture can involve two or more substances of the same phase or different phases. For example you
can mix water and sand (liquid and solid), sugar and salt, water and oil or nitrogen and oxygen. Clearly,
mixtures can vary a lot and can be homogeneous or heterogeneous.

Homogeneous mixture
Mixtures involve mixing substances, so let us first be clear what a homogenous substance is. When a
sample of matter has the same composition throughout, we call that substance a homogeneous
substance. A cup of water will have the same chemical composition throughout ( ). That makes it a
homogeneous substance. A piece of gold will also have the same chemical composition, making it a
homogenous substance. Homogeneous Mixtures behave in a similar way — the substance formed
appear to have the same chemical composition.

Heterogeneous Mixture
A mixture can also result in two or more phases clearly separated by boundaries. Very often, the
separation can be clearly seen by the eye. A heterogeneous mixture is one that does not have uniform
properties and composition. Take a look at a bowl of cereal with nuts. A spoon full will surely have a
different number of nuts than a second spoonful taken at random. Another example—take some sea-
sand into your palms. Look at it closely and you will notice that some sand particles are bigger than
others, and the colors of some particles may be different too. They are NOT uniform in any way!
Heterogeneous mixtures include colloids, emulsions or suspensions.

Suspensions
A suspension is a heterogeneous mixture of a liquid and a solid. The solid usually
does not dissolve, and can be very visible to the eye. Sometimes the solids are heavy,
and large enough for sedimentation (particles settling down in layers) in the container
holding it. Unlike colloids, regular agitation is needed to keep mixture fairly mixed.

Colloids

A colloid (also known as colloidal dispersion) may

look like a homogenous mixture, because the
mixture looks very uniform. Under a bit of
magnification, the solute is not completely dissolved,
and the particles are big enough, making the entire
mixture cloudy.
For example—Mayonnaise is a mixture of egg yolk,
vinegar and lemon juice. It is whisked smoothly to
a degree that it feels so smooth, but under a
microscope, the solute is not completely dissolved.

Emulsions
An emulsion is a heterogeneous mixture of two or more liquids, in which one ends up as
very tiny droplets inside the other. Very often, the liquids involved are not mutually
soluble — like adding some water to a bottle of cooking oil. You will notice that, even after
some shaking and agitation, it does not dissolve in each other, but appear as bits and
pools in the main liquid. Emulsions behave this way.
Emulsions are colloidal systems to