Why do alkanes not dissolve in water but dissolve in benzene?

Explanation

To understand why alkanes do not dissolve in water but do dissolve in benzene, we can break down the explanation into a few key steps:

### Step 1: Understand the Nature of Alkanes
Alkanes are hydrocarbons, which means they are composed solely of carbon (C) and hydrogen (H) atoms. They are classified as organic compounds.

### Step 2: Identify the Nature of Water and Benzene
- Water (H₂O) is an inorganic solvent. It has polar characteristics due to the difference in electronegativity between oxygen and hydrogen, which creates a partial positive charge on the hydrogen atoms and a partial negative charge on the oxygen atom.
- Benzene (C₆H₆) is an organic solvent and is non-polar in nature.
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