The Experimental Determination of LSE

The experimental determination of LSE is similar to that of LLE. We place a sample of the pure-species solid in a container with a sample of pure-species liquid, shake until the liquid has become saturated with the solid, separate by gravity or filtration, and analyze the liquid to determine how much solid is dissolved in it. The solubility of liquids in most pure-species solids is small enough that we ignore it. (Polymers, natural and synthetic, often absorb solvents, and increase in volume, called swelling in the polymer field. Metals and salts generally do not measurably absorb liquids and swell.) This means that the equivalent of Table 11.1 shows the solubility of the solid in the liquid, but almost never the solubility of the liquid in the solid. 

Compared to the three possible outcomes of the LLE experiment (Section 11.2) we have only two here. There is no equivalent of total miscibility that would require that mixing an infinitesimal amount of liquid with a large amount of solid produced all liquid. The other two possibilities are 

Practically insoluble solids (less than a fraction of a mol percent dissolved), such as iron, copper, wax, or mbber in water. 

---