In the study of chemistry, we frequently work with many solutions, each of which has distinct

properties. The colligative properties are one of the most essential properties of a solution.
Colligative properties are the properties of solutions that depend on the ratio of solution particles
to solvent particles rather than the nature of the particles present. A solution can display four
colligative properties: boiling point elevation, freezing point depression, relative vapour pressure
reduction, and osmotic pressure. All of these features pertain to chemical potential, which is the
rate of change of the free energy of a thermodynamic system in relation to the change in the
number of atoms or molecules of a species added to the system. Moreover, colligative
properties of solutions can be measured with any concentration unit. However, molality is the
most used measure for concentration, as it is the only unit that does not change with
temperature; it is temperature independent. The sole colligative property detected in this
experiment was the freezing point depression. First, the freezing point of a substance is the
temperature at which the liquid's vapour pressure is equal to the solid's vapour pressure.
Freezing point depression is the decrease in the minimum temperature at which a substance
freezes, caused by the addition of a small amount of another non-volatile substance. According
to Raoult's law, when a non-volatile solid is added to a solvent, the solvent's vapour pressure
decreases and becomes equal to that of the solid solvent at a lower temperature. This can be
presented through a mathematical statement below:

𝑜
Psolution=𝑋𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑃 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 (eq. 1)

A solution's freezing point is lower than the freezing point of the pure solvent. This implies that a
solution must be chilled to a lower temperature than the pure solvent in order for freezing to
occur. This is due to the chemical potential difference between the solution and the pure solvent.
Since the chemical potential of the solvent in a mixture is lower than that of the pure solvent, the
freezing point of a solution is lower than that of the pure solvent. In addition, the solvent's
vapour pressure decreases when any nonvolatile solute is introduced. Supercooling is the
phrase used when freezing point depression is involved. Supercooling is the process of cooling
a liquid below its freezing point without it solidifying or crystallizing. This is important because it
enables aqueous solutions to reach temperatures below the theoretical freezing point without
freezing. When a substance is subjected to supercooling, its temperature will rise until it reaches
its actual freezing point, and it will then freeze within a narrow temperature range. In order for
the freezing point depression to occur properly during the determination of a solution's freezing
point, the solution must be continuously stirred. Inability to perform continuous stirring will impair
the accuracy of the freezing point depression occurrence, leading to erroneous experiment
results. The significance and applications of freezing point depression differ. Determining the
solute's molar mass is one of the applications of freezing point depression. Using this colligative
property, the molar mass of an unknown substance was determined in this experiment.

Camille Escobar
REFERENCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freezing-point_depression#:~:text=The%20resulting%20liquid%20s
olution%20or,logarithm%20of%20the%20mole%20fraction.

https://qzhu2017.github.io/assets/pdfs/courses/phys-467-667/Lec19.pdf

https://byjus.com/jee/colligative-properties/#:~:text=Why%20are%20Colligative%20properties%
20important,freezing%20point%2C%20and%20osmotic%20pressure.

https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Maps/
Physical_Chemistry_(Fleming)/07%3A_Mixtures_and_Solutions/7.06%3A_Colligative_Propertie
s

https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Maps/
The_Live_Textbook_of_Physical_Chemistry_(Peverati)/14%3A_Properties_of_Solutions/14.02
%3A_Colligative_Properties

Camille Escobar