Colligative Properties

Question 1

How do strong electrolytes (salts) work in solution?

Answer 1

 Soluble ionic compounds (salts) are strong electrolytes meaning that they completely dissociate into separate ions when dissolved into solution
 The van’t Hoff factor for strong electrolytes will equal the number of ions in the formula

Question 2

What is reverse osmosis?

Answer 2

 The non-spontaneous transport of the solvent through the semipermeable membrane from concentrated solutions to dilute

Question 3

How do non-electrolytes work in solution?

Answer 3

 Non-electrolytes do not split into other species, their molecules stay completely intact when dissolving into a solvent

Question 4

Describe vapor pressure lowering

Answer 4

o Raoult’s Law: The vapor pressure of a solution will be lower than the pure substance. This is the basis of understanding distillation

Question 5

How do weak electrolytes work in solution?

Answer 5

 Weak electrolytes are species that partially dissociate or ionize when dissolved into solution

Question 6

How is reverse osmosis accomplished?

Answer 6

 Accomplished by adding pressure and greatly increasing the free energy of the concentrated solution

Question 7

Define osmosis

Answer 7

a critical phenomena related to the spontaneous movement of solvent across semi-permeable membranes

Question 8

Describe boiling point elevation?

Answer 8

o The boiling point of a solution will be higher than the pure substance.

Question 9

Why does the nature of the solvent matter for colligative properties?

Answer 9

 The nature of the solvent matters because the solution properties are similar to the pure solvent

Question 10

Define colligative properties

Answer 10

properties of solutions that depend on the particular solvent and on the concentration, but they do not depend of the nature of the solute

Question 11

How does the solvent move during osmosis?

Answer 11

o The solvent will move from an area of low concentration of solute to an area of high concentration of solute

Question 12

Describe freezing point depression

Answer 12

o The freezing point of a solution will be lower than the pure substance

Question 13

Why does the nature of the solute not matter for colligative properties?

Answer 13

 The nature of the solute does not matter because we are assuming the solutes are all similar to the given solvent we are studying (like dissolves like)