Miscellaneous Comic Book Discussions

The hydrophobic interaction is mostly an entropic effect originating from the disruption of the highly dynamic hydrogen bonds between molecules of liquid water by the nonpolar solute forming a clathrate-like structure around the non-polar molecules. This structure formed is more highly ordered than free water molecules due to the water molecules arranging themselves to interact as much as possible with themselves, and thus results in a higher entropic state which causes non-polar molecules to clump together to reduce the surface area exposed to water and decrease the entropy of the system.[4][5] Thus, the two immiscible phases (hydrophilic vs. hydrophobic) will change so that their corresponding interfacial area will be minimal. This effect can be visualized in the phenomenon called phase separation.