is a solution of ethanol and water heterogeneous or homogeneous
Azeotrope If two solvents can form a positive azeotrope, then distillation of any mixture of those constituents will result in the distillate being closer in composition to the azeotrope than the starting mixture. For example, if a 50/50 mixture of ethanol and water is distilled once, the distillate will be 80% ethanol and 20% water, which is closer to the azeotropic mixture than the original. Distilling the 80/20% mixture produces a distillate that is 87% ethanol and 13% water. Further repeated distillations will produce mixtures that are progressively closer to the azeotropic ratio of 95.5/4.5%. No numbers of distillations will ever result in a distillate that exceeds the azeotropic ratio. Likewise, when distilling a mixture of ethanol and water that is richer in ethanol than the azeotrope, the distillate (contrary to intuition) will be poorer in ethanol than the original but slightly richer than the azeotrope.[9] This means the solution left behind will be richer in ethanol.[10]