Freezing Point Depression of Salt

Most recent answer: 06/03/2015

Q:
why is freezing point depression of 0.1M NaCl solution is nearly twice that of 0.1M glucose solution
- kiron (age 18)
tinsukia,assam,India
A:

The NaCl falls apart into separate Na+ and Cl- ions. They run around sort of independently. So when some of the liquid is lost, the entropy is lowered almost twice as much as it is for a single particle.

Here's some old answers discussing the background needed to understand this.:

 (see follow-up #5)

Mike W.


(published on 06/03/2015)