• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

Homogenous and heterogenous mixtures (1 Viewer)

calamebe

Active Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2015
Messages
462
Gender
Male
HSC
2017
Ok, so to start off, yes I know what bith of these are. A homogenous mixture is a mixture which is basically the same through pout and a heterogenous is not the same throughout. I get that. What I don't get is the line between the two mixtures. To me is seems as though it is a very blurry line, with there being no real way to definitively say what substance it is sometimes, as it could seem like either. So if someone could explain this and if there is a way to say with certainty whether a substance is homogenous or not that would be great. Also I would like to know what kinds of questions would be asked about this. Would there be a question with a picture of a substance and it asks whether it is homogenous or heterogenous, or do they just ask you to describe what a homogenous substance is?
 

dan964

what
Joined
Jun 3, 2014
Messages
3,479
Location
South of here
Gender
Male
HSC
2014
Uni Grad
2019
Homogeneous refers to a substance that is composed of a single substance for example elements or a mixture that has roughly a uniform composition or structure.

Heterogeneous refers to a mixture that is composed of different substances without a uniform composition or structure.
 

calamebe

Active Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2015
Messages
462
Gender
Male
HSC
2017
Homogeneous refers to a substance that is composed of a single substance for example elements or a mixture that has roughly a uniform composition or structure.

Heterogeneous refers to a mixture that is composed of different substances without a uniform composition or structure.
Yes but reality, things are not often perfectly homogenous. It's way too hard to have a completely uniform structure all the way through. So I'm wondering when something becomes not heterogenous.
 

leehuan

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 31, 2014
Messages
5,805
Gender
Male
HSC
2015
Copied and pasted off Jacaranda prelim chemistry.


Mixtures have various particle types and compositions. The particles of each component in homogenous mixtures are distributed uniformly; they are not distributed in heterogenous mixtures. Sugar solutions in water are homogenous mixtures as the sugar particles are uniformly mixed with the water particles. Muddy water is a heterogenous mixture as the heavier particles settle under gravity to form a sediment.
 

calamebe

Active Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2015
Messages
462
Gender
Male
HSC
2017
So I guess the uniformity is based on whether all the parts of a mixture have an equal chance of being anywhere and are more or less distributed randomly, which most of the time will lead to a pretty uniform distribution. Am I right in saying that?
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top