1

SOLUBILTY OF GAS IN LIQUID

* Gases are highly soluble in liquid.

eg. dry HCl gas easily dissolves in water.

* The two factors that affects the

solubilty of a gas in liquid are pressure
and temperature.

Page 1 of 8
 2

EFFECT OF PRESSURE
# The effect of pressure on the
solubilty of gas in liquid is explained
by Henry's law.
# Henry's law states that solubilty of
gas in liquid is directly proportional to
the partial pressure of gas over the
solution.
# Later Henry's law is compared with
Dalton's law of partial pressure ie
partial pressure proportional to
molefraction.
Page 2 of 8
 3
# Thus the modified form of Henry's Law is

" Mole fraction of gas in solution is directly

proportional to the partial pressure of gas over the
solution".

p = KH .x. where

p = partial pressure of gas

KH= Henry's constant
x = molefraction of gas

Page 3 of 8
 4

Significance of Henry's constant KH

* KH have different values based on the

nature of gas.
* Since KH = p/x , as KH value increases
the molefraction of a gas decreases
which shows that higher the value of KH,
lower is the solubilty of gas in liquid.

Page 4 of 8
 5

EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON SOLUBILTY

* KH value increases with temperature, so

the solubility of gas in liquid decreases.
* Gases have weak force of attraction with
the liquids .When the temperature
increases , the force of attraction between
gas molecules and liquid decreases .Thus
the solubilty decreases on increasing
Temperature.

Page 5 of 8
 6

APPLICATIONS OF HENRY'S LAW

(1) Scuba divers uses oxygen diluted with small

quantities of helium as breathing gas while diving
under seawater becoz the pressure under water is
high so more amount of gases( nitrogen &
oxygen) get dissolved in the blood, but when they
came to the surface the pressure decrease and
the concentration of gases dissolved get
decreases, which causes the formation of bubbles
of gases in the blood and blocks the blood
capillaries.This condition is known as bends.

Page 6 of 8
 7

(2) Climbers and people living at higher altitudes

faces a condition known as anoxia( unable to think
properly) because at higher altitudes the concentration
of oxygen is less in air which leads to decrease in the
concentration of oxygen in blood and makes body
weak.

Page 7 of 8
 8

(3) Aerated soft drinks and soda water contain

dissolved carbondioxide gas sealed under high
pressure.

Page 8 of 8