How do organic solvents dissolve substances with covalent bonds?


Posted July 5th, 2010 by admin 1 Comment »
organic
Ziggy asked:


I understand how water is able to dissolve ionic molecules, but I do not understand how organic solvents are able to dissolve substances that are bonded covalently. Are the bonds broken or is it a case of surrounding individual molecules to disrupt Van der Waal forces?

Keep any answers reasonably simple please! :)

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Posted in Chemistry | 1 Comment »

What’s the best organic solvent to remove solidified paraffin wax and stearic acid from glass?


Posted December 14th, 2009 by admin 2 Comments »
organic
Leeenda asked:


I’m measuring viscosity of molten ceramic slurries of paraffin wax and stearic acid. It can make quite a mess, and I need some kind of organic solvent to remove the bits have leaked out and cool down and solidify on the machine.

Scraping it off works, but it leaves smears.

Can anyone recommend an organic solvent? The slurries are are non-polar, so I’m assuming I’ll need a non-polar solvent. Something simple that I can “borrow” from the Chemistry lab (preferably in a squeezie bottle… you know how the common organic solvents are usually in them like Acetone and IPA…)

Acetone doesn’t work… Toluene? Heptane?

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Posted in Chemistry | 2 Comments »