THE USE AND UTILITY OF PHASE SCIENCE

Phase diagrams describe the phase behavior, for a particular system, of mixtures spanning a particular range of system variables. This information is presented in a concise graphic format; one must know how to read and interpret phase diagrams in order to extract and use the information they contain. When many components exist, phase behavior is more complex, but information on simple systems is still useful. The binary salt-water phase diagram may be used to analyze such diverse phenomena as salt recovery from solutions, road deicing, and ice cream-making. The sucrose-water diagram may be used to analyze sugar refining and fudge making. The analysis of all these processes with foreknowledge of the relevant phase diagram provides qualitative and quantitative insights that are not intuitively evident.