Diluting methanol in water: is it exothermic? Can someone explain in simple terms why does temperature increase when mixing water with methanol? I do not have a strong background in chemistry, but I usually have to mix both liquids (sometimes also water + ethanol) (as part of my work in a biology lab) and have always wandered about the reason behind the evident increase of temperature upon mixing. I guess that the break/formation of H-bonds is involved but I haven't found a clear ("easy-to-understand") explanation in online searches.
When the methanol and water are separate, they both exhibit hydrogen bonding with themselves. When the water and methanol are mixed together, some of the existing hydrogen bonding (water-water or methanol-methanol) is disturbed and now there is hydrogen bonding between water and methanol. This new hydrogen bonding pair (water-methanol) releases energy when it forms as it is more favorable than maintaining only water-water and methanol-methanol hydrogen bonding; the temperature increase you observe is the result of the released energy warming the solution.