General Chemistry 2
Lesson 2 – Colligative Properties of Solutions
Colligative Properties
 Colligative Property: a property that
depends only upon the number of
solute particles (concentration), and
NOT upon their identity.
 Three Important Colligative
Properties of Solutions.
- Vapor-pressure lowering
- Boiling-point elevation
- Freezing-point depression
Vapor-Pressure Lowering
 Vapor pressure: is the pressure
exerted by a vapor that is in dynamic
equilibrium with its liquid (molecules
are moving back and forth between
liquid and vapor phases)
 A solution that contains a solute that
is not easily vaporized always has a
lower vapor pressure than pure
solvent.
 This is true because in a solution,
solute particles reduce the number of
free solvent particles able to escape
the liquid.
 The decrease in a solution’s vapor
pressure is proportional to the number
of particles the solute makes in
solution.
Freezing-Point Depression
 Freezing-Point Depression: the
difference in temperature between the
freezing point of a solution and the
freezing point of the pure solvent
(water).
 The presence of a solute in water
disrupts the formation of the orderly
pattern of ice. Therefore, more kinetic
energy must be withdrawn from a
solution than from the pure solvent to
cause the solution solidify.
FINALS
A.Y. 22-23
 The magnitude of the freezing-point
depression is proportional to the
number of solute particles dissolved
in the solvent and does not depend
upon their identity.
Freezing point elevation in real life
 A very common example of this
phenomenon in everyday life is
salting of the roads in water. Pure
water freezes at 0°C. However, by
mixing in salt the freezing point of
this mixture of water and salt will
drop well below zero. This is why salt
is used to keep roads free from ice.
Freezing Point Depression
 The freezing point depression, Tf
is equal to the freezing point of the
solvent minus the freezing point of
the solution.
 It is also proportional to the molal
concentration of the solute.
Tf = Kf (m)
 Where Kf the freezing point
depression constant, depends only on
the solvent.
Example Problems
Let’s have a look at the change in freezing
point for a basic vanilla ice cream. This ice
cream contains approximately 600g of water
and 75g of sugar. The cryoscopic constant of
water (1.853 °C/m).
General Chemistry 2 FINALS
Lesson 2 – Colligative Properties of Solutions A.Y. 22-23
Boiling-Point Elevation Example
 Boiling Point: The temperature at  Salt is often added to water in order to
which the vapor pressure of the liquid raise the temperature of the boiling
phase equals atmospheric pressure. point and to heat food more quickly.
 Because of the decrease in vapor If you add 30 g of salt to 3.75 kg of
pressure, additional kinetic energy water, what will be the change in the
must be added to raise the vapor boiling point? Assume the Kb of
pressure of the liquid phase of the water is 0.51 C/m
solution to atmospheric pressure to
initiate boiling.
 Boiling-Point Elevation: The
difference in temperature between the
boiling point of a solution and the
boiling point of the pure solvent.
 The boiling point of a solution is
higher than the boiling point of the
pure solvent.
 The magnitude of the boiling-point
elevation is proportional to the
number of solute particles dissolved
in the solvent.
 It takes additional kinetic energy for
the solvent particles to overcome the
attractive forces that keep them in the
liquid.
The water molecules are attracted to ions in
solution, the ions “hold” the water molecules
down instead of allowing them to be released
into the vapor phase. The water molecules
need more energy to “escape” from the ions
in solution!
Boiling Point in Real Life
 One area is that boiling point
elevation is applying to real life is
cooking.
Formula
Tb = m(Kb)