Question

Ethanol is soluble in water. Why?

Answer 1

Hint: To know the reason behind why ethanol is soluble in water. First, we have to understand the hydrogen bonding with the water and the solubility of the compound. Alcohols with the small hydrocarbons are very much soluble in water.

Complete answer:
The formula of ethanol is $C{H_3} - C{H_2} - OH$ .Ethanol is an alcohol that is soluble in water. This is because of the hydroxyl group $\left( { - OH} \right)$ in the ethanol that is able to form hydrogen bonds with the water $\left( {{H_2}O} \right)$ molecules. Hydrogen bonding means dipole-dipole interactions between the two molecules and it can be intramolecular and intermolecular. The intermolecular hydrogen bonding is very high in the ethanol that is why it is soluble.

The second reason is that ethanol is a polar molecular hydrocarbon due to the high electronegativity of the oxygen atom and due to this it is soluble in water.
Let’s start with the basic concept of solubility. As the length of the hydrocarbon increases, the solubility of the hydrocarbon decreases. This is because it needs more energy to overcome the hydrogen bonding between the molecules. As, the molecules are tightly packed with each other due to increment in mass and size. For example, methanol is more soluble than ethanol.

Note:
We must have to understand about the solubility. Solubility of an organic compound or molecule depends on the chemical and the physical properties of the solute, pressure, temperature, concentration. We should know that the polar molecules dissolve only in the polar solvents. Non-polar molecules dissolve in non-polar solvents.