Bob Mazo
ITS
Abstract:
To clarify the title: this talk will not deal with the solution of equations but with phenomena like "What happens when you put sugar in your coffee?" I shall talk primarily about the salting out effect, the decrease (usually) of the solubility of a solute in a solvent when a third component is added. After a brief discussion of the physical factors affecting solubility, I shall discuss a formal theory of the salting out effect,based on the fluctuation theory of solutions. Then I shall indicate how application of this formal theory to experimental rresults enables one to draw conclusions about the microscopic structure of a solution. If time permits, I shall discuss what happens when the system is near the critical point of the solvent, where fluctuations are very large.