Question

Please help!-- 20 pts!

Ann did an experiment on the solubility of substances. She realized that oil molecules can mix freely with gasoline but they cannot mix with water.

How can the solubility of oil in gasoline be explained?

While gasoline molecules are polar, oil molecules are nonpolar. Polar solvents have a tendency to dissolve nonpolar molecules.
Both oil and gasoline molecules are nonpolar, while water is polar. Nonpolar solvents have a tendency to dissolve other nonpolar molecules.
Both oil and gasoline molecules are polar, while water is not. Polar solvents have a tendency to dissolve other polar molecules.
While oil molecules are polar, gasoline molecules are nonpolar. Polar solvents have a tendency to dissolve nonpolar molecules.

Answer 1

Both oil and gasoline molecules are nonpolar, while water is polar. Nonpolar solvents have a tendency to dissolve other nonpolar molecules.

Step-by-step explanation:

Molecules may be categorized as "polar" or "nonpolar" according to difference in the atom's electronegativity.

Water is polar because it consists of two types of atoms that do not cancel out each other. It is made of two atoms of Hydrogen and only one atom of Oxygen. This makes the Oxygen partially negative and the Hydrogen partially positive. This allows them to readily bond with other polar molecules like sugar. However, it cannot mix freely with oil and gasoline because both of these are nonpolar. Nonpolar molecules do not have much difference when it comes to their atoms' electronegativity. Therefore, they have the tendency to dissolve molecules which are nonpolar as well. This explains why oil molecules can mix freely with gasoline.