Ideal Solutions

The chemical constituents of a solution can be varied — added, subtracted and interchanged or substituted for each other — within limits ranging from complete (e.g., gases) to highly restricted (trace components in quartz). Adding or subtracting chemical constituents to or from a phase involves changes in energy, which will be discussed in the following sections. For example, if two components A and B are mixed together, the Gibbs energy of a solution of the two mixed must be less than the sum of the Gibbs energies of the two separately for the spontaneous reaction to take place. That is, if we mix nA moles of component A and nA moles of component B, their combined total G is (nAGA + nBGB) where GA and GB are the molar free energies of A and B. If G(A,B) is the total free energy of the resulting solution, then necessarily if the solution took place spontaneously. Alternatively, dividing through by nA + nB, where XA and XB are the mole fractions. Thus if A is albite and B is anorthite, then (A,B) is plagioclase, and we say that the plagioclase solid solution is more stable than a "mechanical mixture" of grains of albite and anorthite. On the other hand if A is diopside and B is anorthite, little or no mutual solution takes place because in this case so that no spontaneous solution reaction takes place. The term "mechanical mixture" in this context nicely conveys the idea of quantities of mineral grains mixed together and not reacting, but does not work quite so well if A and B are other things such as water and halite, or water and alcohol. Nevertheless, the term is traditionally used no matter what the nature of the solution constituents, and no harm is done as long as we remember that "mechanical mixture" means that the constituents considered do not react with each other, whatever their physical nature.