Friday, January 15, 2010

Why is acetone put into nail polish remover?

Acetone is a polar molecule (i.e. the centers of positive and negative charges in its molecule do not exactly coincide). It infact is more polar than the water molecule (2.91 D %26gt; 1.85 D). Due to this (and of course other reasons I donot know) acetone has a very good solvent action and finds use in industry primarily as a solvent - including its use as a nail polish (which contains nitrocellulose; acetone probably breaks this down) remover.Why is acetone put into nail polish remover?
it is a great solvent for nonpolar substances like nail polish. water doesn't work b/c it's a polar solvent.

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