Even though the label clearly said “28% vegetable oil” I was still surprised to see how much water was in this spread! It might seem weird, but we can get oil and water to mix, we just need to use special molecules called emulsifiers. What makes emulsifiers unique (and similar to surfactants and detergents) is their structure: they can form bonds to both water (a polar molecule) and oil ( a non-polar molecule) at the same time! They do this by having a polar end, called the hydrophilic end, that can form strong attractions to water, while the opposite end is non-polar and hydrophobic, forming bonds with oil and similar compounds. So when an emulsifier comes into contact with both oil and water, it can bind the two together into a uniform mixture, called an emulsion. Everyday emulsions include skin lotion (which may use beeswax as the emulsifier) as well as mayonnaise (which uses the emulsifiers in egg yolks and mustard!). #chemistry #chemteacherphil