To what extent is it even meaningful to speak of the phase of a solute?
Gases can mix in any way you like, water is only soluble in air until it reaches saturation. Thus we speak of relative humidity: relative in relation to saturation (which, as stated, in turn is a function of temperature). English even distinguishes between steam and vapor, something other languages have difficulty doing: steam is water dissolved in air, vapor is water droplets in suspension.
I stand corrected.
You’re welcome, my pleasure.
No, steam is water vapor at (or near) the boiling point. Vapor refers to water in the gaseous form, at any temperature but generally referring to under the boiling point. Suspended water droplets can be referred to as mist, fog, clouds etc.
Pure saturated steam is invisible, but as it mixes with colder air it starts condensing as droplets which look white. So the hot plume shooting out of a boiling kettle is a mix of invisible steam and visible condensed droplets, but we generally (and imprecisely) just refer to the combination of the two as “steam”.
Engineers distinguish between vapor and gas.
In loose terms, A vapor can be turned into liquid by the application of pressure, a gas cannot.
Take propane or butane vapor in a piston (a syringe like device with the outlet blocked), at room temperature ~70F. Apply pressure, and keep it at room temperature : the propane or butane will turn into a liquid.
This why you can buy propane or butane liquefied in bottles at room temperature. Propane or Butane at room temperature are vapors. You can’t buy natural gas liquefied at room temp.
Natural gas (methane) or Nitrogen or Air will not liquefy at room temperature: no matter how much pressure you apply. They are called gases.
So, to restate : Vapors turn into liquids when squeezed, gases don’t.
OK, it is more complicated than I thought. Shall we open a new thread to discuss that subject? I have the impression I have understood the main points by now, but so I thought too three posts ago and I had not.
Which other languages? In Dutch we know the difference. Steam=stoom, vapor=damp.
After a short Google check I stand corrected. Neither the other Germanic European languages nor the Latin languages seem to distinguish. Ignorance fought!
And neither one are instances of dissolving two liquids in a gas, which is the part of the OP that I was questioning. I have no idea how to answer
since the question makes no sense.
I think there is some confusion here:
Yes they are. But:
What the OP really asks about (I believe) is not so much about dissolving two gases in a liquid, but rather about two gases binding to hemoglobin. I think we need a biochemist.
This is the way to look at it. The phase is that of the solvent, not the solute. You can dissolve chemical species in solids, liquids, or gases (plasma too, I guess). In all cases, the phase of the solution is that of the solvent. Of course, once the solubility limit is reached, a second phase will precipitate out of the solution.
Yes, confusion abounds. Look at the word “water”, which can have two meanings. One, it is a chemical, H20. It is also used to describe the liquid phase of the same. Ice and vapor being what the other two common phases are called.
I suspect your are correct, which is what the part of my post that you did not quote tried to address. I am not a biochemist, so my explanation may have had errors.
I am not a biochemist either, but I do not believe I misquoted you. Concerning what “water” refers to, I use it in the sense of H²O, as my mentioning of evaporation and sublimation in #19 meant to convey. But what I mean and how others use a term is not the same, obviously.
Not in my, or my fathers, thermodynamics texts, nor, as far as I am aware, in any of the Chemical Engineering texts I’ve read. Nor, AFAIA, in anesthetics. And all gases can be turned into liquids by the application of pressure. And a phase may condense out of a mixture of gases on change of temperature.
If I had to make a distinction, I’d say that a vapor consists of two or more phases.
Steam is water vapor, regardless of what temperature it’s at. If it’s above the saturation temperature, it’s called superheated.
Well, there’s this:
IOW, the temperature matters in determining whether a substance is a gas or a vapor. If a gas-phase substance is above the critical temperature, compressing it won’t turn it into a liquid; it’ll turn it into a supercritical fluid. Methane is a fine example: above 190.6K (its critical temp), it’s a gas, and can’t exist as a liquid. Below that temp, it’s a vapor and can be compressed into liquid form with sufficient pressure.