Chemistry · Ch 9 — Solutions
Colligative Properties
9.9
Colligative Properties
Pure water is tasteless; add sugar and it becomes sweet, add salt and it becomes salty. This shows that a solution's properties generally do depend on the chemical nature of the dissolved solute particles.
However, for an ideal dilute solution, four particular properties behave completely differently: they do not depend on what the solute chemically is -- only on how many solute particles (molecules or ions) are present in the solution. These four properties are:
- Relative lowering of vapour pressure (section 9.9.1)
- Elevation of boiling point (section 9.9.2)
- Depression of freezing point (section 9.9.3)
- Osmotic pressure (section 9.9.4) …