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Message:: [QUOTE="-jeffB, post: 2756096, member: 27832"]You should've listened to Dr. Bentz, because organic chem is so cool. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> The "charged end" bit is polarity, and as it turns out, water's actually highly polar. Acetone less so, and xylene not at all. Polar solvents tend to be better at dissolving stuff that's polar. Salt and mineral deposits are ionic ("polar and then some"), so they dissolve in water. Non-polar solvents tend to be better at dissolving stuff that's non-polar. Grease, wax, and organic gunk are non-polar, and dissolve in xylene. Acetone is not very polar. In my experience, it also does a good job on grease and such, but I don't know enough to talk about where it's better or worse than xylene. Acetone has the advantage of mixing with water, which means that it can attack damp gunk where xylene would just roll off. These solvents aren't actually breaking up molecules of organic stuff; they're just carrying them off into solution. Dips (acids and complexing agents) actually do break chemical bonds. That's a different process, but it's lunchtime, and I've probably already talked beyond my own level of expertise, so I'll stop here.[/QUOTE]