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Q.Define Freezing point and Derive the formula related with delta-Tf, Kf and molar Mass.

Gujarat GsebGSEB Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) Examination 2025Subjective· 3mImportance★★★★★
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The freezing point is defined via vapour-pressure equality between solid and liquid; since dissolving a solute lowers the solvent's vapour pressure, the freezing point of a solution is always lower than that of the pure solvent, by an amount proportional to molality.

Definition: The freezing point of a substance is the temperature at which the vapour pressure of its solid phase becomes equal to the vapour pressure of its liquid phase (i.e., solid and liquid are in dynamic equilibrium) at a given (usually 1 atm) pressure.

Derivation of the depression in freezing point formula:

Adding a non-volatile solute lowers the vapour pressure of the solvent. As a result, the solution's solid-liquid equilibrium (freezing point) is reached at a lower temperature than that of the pure solvent - this is the depression in freezing point, deltaTf = Tf(pure solvent) - Tf(solution).

For dilute solutions, deltaTf is found experimentally to be directly proportional to the molality (m) of the solution:

deltaTf proportional to m

deltaTf = Kf x m

where Kf is the molal depression constant (cryoscopic constant), a property of the solvent (units: K kg mol-1).

Molality is defined as: …

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