Is homogenized milk homogeneous or heterogenerous?

[Banks]

Ok, interesting question.

 

"Fresh milk separates spontaneously into cream, which floats to the surface with watery below. Homogenized milk is made by breaking the cream into tiny droplets and mixing them into the rest of the milk. This prevents the cream from separating. Is homogenized milk homogeneous or heterogeneous?"

 

How do I determine this?

 

....Ok, I think i got it.

 

It's homogeneous. Because of the tiny droplets and mixing them into the rest of the milk makes it homogeneous, which is clearly not visible. Therefore, it's homogeneous.

 

If it wasn't broken down into tiny droplets and mixing them, it would be heterogeneous.

 

Am I right?

 

I pray to God I'm right.....

 

According to my textbook -

 

heterogeneous mixture - mixture in which the different substances are visible

 

homogeneous mixture - mixture in which the different substances are not visible

 

So, it has to be homogeneous because according to the original question, all the substances in it look the same.

 

You cannot tell what substances in the homogenized milk are, especially one by one.

 

According to textbook -

 

"In some mixtures, the separate components are not visible. These are solutions. They are called homogeneous mixtures because they look the same throughout. In a solution, one substance is dissolved in another. For example, a soft drink is a solution composed mainly of sugar dissolved in water."

 

Another question,

 

"Find out whether homogenized milk is a suspension, a colloid, or a solution"

 

I picked colloid, because it's similar to a suspension, but the suspended substance cannot be easily separated from the other substance.

Thanks guys!

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I believe you're right that milk is a colloid. Based on your textbook's definition of homogeneous, I'd agree with you, but the distinction is somewhat arbitrary.