The "sea of instability" refers to a region of elements on the periodic table that are highly unstable. These elements have extremely short half-lives that may be measured in micro- or nanoseconds. (A nanosecond is the time it takes for light to travel one foot.) This region of unstable elements surrounds the island of stability.
The standard Gibbs free energy of formation of ZnO from Zn is lower than that of CO2 from CO. Therefore, CO cannot reduce ZnO to Zn. Hence, Zn is not extracted from ZnO through reduction using CO
This is false. An alcohol does indeed have a polar C-O single bond, but what we should really be focusing on is the extraordinarily polar O-H single bond. When oxygen, fluorine, or nitrogen is bound to a hydrogen atom, there is a small (but not negligible) charge separation, where the eletronegative N, O, or F has a partial negative charge, and the H has a partial positive charge. Water has two O-H single bonds in it (structure is H-O-H). The partially negative charge on the O of the water molecule (specifically around the lone pair) can become attracted either a neighboring water molecule's partially positive H atom, or an alcohol's partially positive H atom. This is weak (and partially covalent) attraction is called a hydrogen bond. This is stronger than a typical dipole-dipole attraction (as would be seen between neighboring C-O single bonds), and much stronger than dispersion forces (between any two atoms). When the solvent (water) and the solute (the alcohol) both exhibit similar intermolecular forces (hydrogen bonding being the most important in this case), they can mix completely in all proportions (i.e. they are miscible) in water.
Capillary action is defined as the ability of a liquid to go up a narrow space without the help or opposition of external forces. One of the most important factors affecting capillary action is the intermolecular forces within a substance. The higher the IMF, the greater the capillary action. The H-bonding in water gives it greater IMF than acetone, so water has greater capillary action.
