Question

How would you determine whether a substance is likely to dissolve in the benzene or not?

Answer 1

A solvent is a liquid which dissolves the solute and forms the solution. The solvent is the component of a solution that is present in larger quantities. Water is possibly the most common solvent in everyday life. Many other solvents are organic compounds such as benzene, turpentine or trichloroethylene. In chemistry, a common rule for determining whether a solvent dissolves a given solute is "like dissolves like". Solvents made up of polar molecules, such as water which dissolves other polar molecules example, table salt, while non-polar solvents, such as gasoline that dissolves the non-polar substances example, wax.

Complete step-by-step answer:
The maximum amount of a solute that can dissolve in a solvent at a given temperature and pressure is its solubility. A measure of how much of a solid substance remains dissolved in a certain amount of a certain liquid at a certain temperature and pressure. Solubility is often expressed as mass of solute per volume $\;\left( {g/l} \right)$ or mass of solute per mass of solvent $\left( {g/g} \right)$ or as moles of solute per volume $\;\left( {mol/l} \right)$ . However, even for very soluble substances, there is usually a limit to how much solute can dissolve in a given amount of solvent. In general, the solubility of a substance depends not only on the energetic factors discussed by us, but also on the temperature and, in the case of gases, on the pressure.

When a solute dissolves, its individual ions, atoms or molecules interact with the solvent, it becomes solvated and can diffuse independently throughout the solution. This is not, however, a one-way process. If the molecule or ion collides with the surface of an undissolved solute particle, it can adhere to the particle in a process called crystallization. Dissolution and crystallization continue as long as the excess solid is present, resulting in a dynamic equilibrium similar to the equilibrium that maintains the liquid vapour pressure.
${\text{solute}}\,{\text{ + }}\,{\text{solvent}}\, \rightleftharpoons \,{\text{crystallization }}\,{\text{dissolution}}\,\,{\text{solution}}$

Benzene is a fairly non-polar organic solvent. We speculate that other organic solvents should have great solubility in gasoline, and organic solvents should have some solubility. However, if we wanted to know, we'd have to give it a try.

Note: The terms precipitation and crystallization are both used to describe the separation of the solid solute from a solution. The crystallization refers to the formation of a solid with a well-defined crystal structure, whereas, precipitation refers to the formation of a solid phase, often one with very small particles.