--%>

What is depression in freezing point?

Freezing point of a substance is the temperature at which solid and liquid phases of the substance coexist. It is defined as the temperature at which its solid and liquid phases have the same vapour pressure.

The freezing point of a pure liquid is preset. Now, if a non-volatile solute is dissolved in the pure liquid to constitute a solution, there occurs a lowering in the freezing point. The freezing point of solution refers to the temperature at which the vapour pressure of the solvent in two phases, i.e. liquid solution and solid solvent is the same. Since the vapour pressure of the solvent at a lower temperature.

Evidently the freezing point of the pure solvent is the temperature corresponding to the point B (T0 K) and that of the solution is the temperature corresponding to the point A'(T1 K). Clearly, (T0 - T1) or ΔTƒ is the freezing point depression. Since its magnitude is determined by that of lowering of vapour pressure, the freezing point depression depends upon the molal concentration of the solute and does not depend upon the nature of solid. It is, thus, a colligative property. The general relation between these two quantities for a solution of non-electrolyte is usually expressed in term of molality of the solution

ΔTƒ  Δp and Δp xB

ΔTƒ = kxB =415_freezing point.png 


For dilute solution, 272_freezing point1.png   and hence,1964_freezing point2.png.


ΔTƒ = k 1278_freezing point3.png  = k582_elevation in boiling point4.pngMA


If WA is the mass of solvent in kg, then   is equal to molality (m) of the solution

ΔTƒ = kMAm     (? kMA = Kƒ)

ΔTƒ =Kƒm, where Kƒ is called Freezing point depression constant or molal depression constant or cryoscopic constant.

As is clear from the above, depression in freezing point depends upon relative number of moles of solute and solvent but does not depend upon nature of solute, so it is a colligative property.

   Related Questions in Chemistry

  • Q : What is Ideal Mixtures Ideal mixing

    Ideal mixing properties can be recognized in the formation of an ideal gas mixture from ideal gases. Consider the formation of a mixture of gases i.e. a gaseous solution, from two mixtures of pure gases. A useful characterization of an ideal mixture, or soluti

  • Q : F-centres If a electron is present in

    If a electron is present in place of anion in a crystal lattice, then it is termed as: (a) Frenkel defect  (b) Schottky defect  (c) Interstitial defects (d) F-centre Answer: (d) When electrons are trapped in anion vacancies, thes

  • Q : Problem on moles of solution The number

    The number of moles of a solute in its solution is 20 and total no. of moles are 80. The mole fraction of solute wil be: (a) 2.5 (b) 0.25 (c) 1 (d) 0.75

  • Q : Sedimentation and Velocity The first

    The first method begins with a well defined layer, or boundary, of solution near the center of rotation and tracks the movement of this layer to the outside of the cell as a function of time. Such a method is termed a sedimentary velocity experiment. A

  • Q : Donnan Membrane Equilibria The electric

    The electric charge acquired by macromolecules affects the equilibrium set up across a semipermeable membrane.Laboratory studies of macromolecule solutions as in osmotic pressure and dialysis studies confine the macromolecules to one compartment while allo

  • Q : Mole fraction of water Give me answer

    Give me answer of this question. A solution contains 25%H2O 25%C2H5OH , and 50% CH3 COOH by mass. The mole fraction of H2O would be: (a) 0.25 (b) 2.5 (c) 0.503 (d) 5.03.

  • Q : What are methods of phenol preparation

    Phenol was initially obtained by fractional distillation of coal

  • Q : Calculating total number of moles

    Choose the right answer from following. While 90 gm of water is mixed with 300 gm of acetic acid. The total number of moles will be: (a)5 (b)10 (c)15 (d)20

  • Q : Illustrations of the reversible reaction

    What are the various illustrations of the reversible reaction? Explain briefly?

  • Q : Problem on Clausius equation of state

    If a gas can be described by the Clausius equation of state: P (V-b) = RT Where b is a constant, then:  (a) Obtain an expression for the residual vo