Module Assignment: Solutions and Colligative Properties - Discussion

Answer three questions below. Add comments and/or questions to your classmates' posts,
especially if you don't understand their responses.

Provide thoughtful answers to at least two of these three questions. Your answers should be
complete, providing explanations where requested. All responses should be written in YOUR
OWN WORDS! Include reference information, if appropriate.

1) If you lived in Alaska, which of the following natural gases could you keep in an outdoor
storage tank in winter and why? methane (CH4), propane (C3H8), or butane (C4H10)

Answer

Methane, Propane and Butane are non-polar gases. Therefore, it has one type of

intermolecular forces which is London force. As molecular weight increases, London force

between the molecules increases and so boiling point increases. Therefore, we can arrange

the three gases, according to their boiling points: Butane < Propane < Methane, so we can

conclude that at very cold Temperature (outdoor), Butane and Propane (less volatile) will

freeze while Methane (More Volatile) will not freeze and still a gas. Therefore, the only gas,

which we can store outdoor is Methane.

2) How does increasing the concentration of a nonvolatile solute in water affect the following
properties and why:

a) vapor pressure

b) freezing point

c) boiling point

d) osmotic pressure
 Answer

Increasing the concentration of nonvolatile solute in water will cause:

a) Lowering water vapor pressure.

- Water molecules at the surface vaporize and exert a pressure called vapor pressure, so

non- volatile solute will replace some water molecules at the surface and therefore, water

molecules at the surface which are free to vaporize will decrease and cause lowering of

water vapor pressure.

- The relationship between addition of non-volatile solute and lowering of vapor pressure

can be expressed by using Raoult,s law: P = X solute x P solvent

P: magnitude of lowering the vapor pressure

P solvent: vapor pressure of pure solvent

X solute: mole fraction of non-volatile solute

b) Elevation of water boiling point

- Boiling point is the temperature at which the vapor pressure equal to atmospheric

pressure and it is inversely proportional to vapor pressure, so lowering vapor pressure due

to the addition of non-volatile solute means that we need to heat water to a higher

temperature to create more vapor molecules that will exert a pressure equal to

atmospheric pressure.

- Elevation of boiling point is directly proportional to solution molality

Tb m
 Tb = Kb x m

Tb = Tb (Solution) - Tb (Solvent) (boiling point elevation)

Kb: molal boiling point elevation constant

m: molality of solution

c) Depression of water freezing point

- When water freezes, its molecules approaches close to each others and arranged in a

certain order, so if there is non-volatile solute between water molecules, it will hinder the

approach of water molecules to each others and the freezing become more difficult, so

we need to cool the water to a lower temperature less than that used for water only.

- Depression of freezing point is directly proportional to solution molality

Tf m

Tf = Kf x m

Tf = Tf (Solvent) Tf (Solution) (freezing point depression)

Kb: molal freezing point depression constant

m: molality of solution
 d) increasing water osmotic pressure

- If we separate a solution (water + non-volatile solute) and pure solvent (water only) by a

semipermeable membrane which allow only the passage of solvent molecules, the

process of osmosis will occur which means that the water molecule will flow from the

pure solvent ( higher concentration of water) to the solution ( lower concentration of

water) until reaching equilibrium.

- Osmotic pressure is defined as the applied pressure required to prevent the net movement

of water from solvent to solution and it directly proportional to the concentration of non-

volatile solute which means that addition of more non-volatile solute will increase water

flow and so we need a higher osmotic pressure to prevent this flow.

(Reference of this photo: Sliberberg, M.S., 2007, Principles of General Chemistry, McGraw-hill,

New York)
 - Osmotic pressure is directly proportional to solution molarity

a) In case of non-electrolyte solute:

= MRT

: osmotic pressure

M: solution molarity

R: gas constant

T: Temperature

b) In case of strong electrolyte

= iMRT

Where i: Van,t Hoff factor which is the number of ions per formula unit

For example: MgCl2 contain one Mg+2 and two Cl- , therefore i=3

3) There are many different units of concentration used throughout science. List three units of
concentration and provide a real-world example of the use of that unit of concentration.

Answer

a) Mass percent (w/w %)

Example: mass percent values on bottle of a solid chemical to indicate amount of impurities.
b) Volume percent (V/V %)

Example: commercial alcohol labeled for example 70% (V/V) means that every 100 ml solution

contains 70 ml of alcohol

c) Weight by Volume percent (W/V %)

Example: solutions especially in medical lab, for example 1.5% (W/V) NaCl solution means that

every 100 ml of solution contains 1.5 g of NaCl