Question

if xylene and ethanol are mix will the mixture have a higher boiling point? xylene bp is about 140°C depending where the methyl groups are(ortho,para, meta) and ethanol is 78.4°C

Answer 1

The presence of other volatile components in a mixture affects the vapor pressures and thus boiling points of all the components in the mixture. At any given temperature, the composition of the vapor is different from the composition of the liquid in most cases. In order to illustrate these effects between the volatile components in a mixture, a boiling point diagram is commonly used. At a particular pressure instead of a sharp boiling point for a pure component, we get a range of boiling temperatures for a mixture. Typical boiling point curve for the given mixture can be represented as shown below: