Meaning & use
miscibility
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Meanings
noununcountabletechnicalchemistry
The ability of two liquids to blend together completely and form a single uniform liquid.
Grammar: No plural and no article: you talk about the miscibility of one liquid with another, not 'a miscibility'.
Patterns
- the miscibility of something with something
- the miscibility of something in something
- miscibility between two liquids
The miscibility of ethanol with water is why the two never separate into layers.
Chemists measured the miscibility of the two oils at different temperatures.
Complete miscibility means you cannot see any boundary between the liquids.
noununcountabletechnicalchemistry
The degree to which one substance can be mixed with another without separating.
Grammar: Often used after 'partial' or 'limited' to show that mixing is only partly successful.
Patterns
- partial miscibility
- limited miscibility
- miscibility with something
The pair shows only partial miscibility, so a thin layer forms after a while.
Engineers chose the additive because of its high miscibility with the fuel.
Low miscibility with water keeps the chemical out of the groundwater.
Common combinations
- complete miscibility
- Complete miscibility between the two solvents made the mixture easy to prepare.
- partial miscibility
- Partial miscibility caused the blend to separate overnight.
- miscibility gap
- Above 60°C the miscibility gap disappears and the liquids blend fully.
- miscibility with water
- The miscibility with water of this alcohol is very high.
- increase the miscibility
- Adding a surfactant can increase the miscibility of oil and water.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mixability
- A plainer, less technical word for how easily things mix; it is not the standard term in chemistry.
- solubility
- Used for a solid or gas dissolving in a liquid, whereas miscibility is normally about two liquids blending.
- compatibility
- A broader word about things working well together, not specifically about liquids forming one uniform phase.
Opposites
Word family
- miscible adjective
- Able to be mixed completely to form one liquid.
- immiscible adjective
- Not able to mix; forming separate layers, as oil and water do.
- immiscibility noun
- The state of two liquids being unable to blend.
Commonly confused: miscibility or solubility? miscibility or mixture?
miscibility vs solubility
Solubility is about how much of a solid or gas dissolves in a liquid; miscibility is about two liquids mixing in any amount.
miscibility vs mixture
A mixture is the combined substance itself, while miscibility is the property of being able to mix.
Practice
Oil and water form separate layers, so chemists describe them as showing ______.
Choose one answer.
'Immiscibility' is the inability to blend into one liquid, which matches the separate layers. 'Miscibility' would mean the opposite, and 'solubility' and 'viscosity' describe dissolving and thickness, not liquid-on-liquid blending.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “miscibility”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.