AP Chemistry : Solutions and States of Matter

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Chemistry

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store

Example Questions

Example Question #361 : Ap Chemistry

You are attempting to distill the water from a sample of seawater. What can you do to facilitate the process?

Possible Answers:

There is no way to affect the boiling point of the sample

Add more salt into the water

Move to a lower elevation

Filter the water to remove some solute

Increase the pressure

Correct answer:

Filter the water to remove some solute

Explanation:

Dissolving solutes into a solvent will influence the movement of the molecules in solution. In a pure solvent, the molecules are essentially in uniform motion. When an impurity is added, such as salt in seawater, the foreign particles begin to interact with the solvent. Different masses, velocities, and attractive forces alter the patterns of the liquid molecules and cause an overall decrease in their energy. Transitioning to a gaseous state from a liquid state requires a reduction of intermolecular forces, while adding solute increases these forces in the solution. Adding solute thus inhibits the transition from liquid to gas, resulting in boiling point elevation.

Filtering the water to remove some solute could help to distill the water by removing some of the boiling point elevation. Moving to the lower elevation or increasing the pressure will increasing the boiling point.

Example Question #9 : Colligative Properties

The vapor pressure of ethanol at room temperature is 45mmHg. A nonvolatile solute is added to a vial of ethanol, resulting in a solution with a vapor pressure of 34mmHg. What is the molar fraction of the nonvolatile solute in the solution?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

A nonvolatile solute will not contribute to the vapor pressure of a solution, and will only act to decrease the vapor pressure of the pure solvent. The molar fraction of the solvent in the solution can be determined using Raoult's law.

The solution's vapor pressure is equal to the vapor pressure of the pure solvent multiplied by the molar fraction of solvent in solution.

This means that the molar fraction of solvent in the solution is 0.76. As a result, we conclude that the molar fraction of solute in the solution is 0.24, since the sum of the mole fractions must equal 1.

Example Question #11 : Colligative Properties

The vapor pressure of water is  at . Two moles of a nonvolatile solute are added to eight moles of water. What is the vapor pressure of this solution?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

A nonvolatile solute will not contribute to the vapor pressure of the solution, but will decrease the vapor pressure of the pure solvent. We can solve for the vapor pressure of the solution by using Raoult's law:

 

In other words, the new vapor pressure is equal to the molar fraction of the solvent multiplied by the vapor pressure of the pure solvent.

Example Question #12 : Colligative Properties

At room temperature, hexane has a vapor pressure of  and ethanol has a vapor pressure of . A solution of these two solvents at room temperature has a vapor pressure of . What percentage of the solution is ethanol?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Since both of the solvents have a vapor pressure, we can find the percentage of ethanol in the solution by using Raoult's law, including both solvents in the equation:

Since we want to find the percentage of ethanol in the solution, we will designate the molar fraction of ethanol as . Since the sum of the molar fractions equals one, the molar fraction of hexane will be designated as .

So, 63.4% of the solution is ethanol.

Example Question #11 : Colligative Properties

A volatile solute with a vapor pressure of 23mmHg is added to a solvent with a vapor pressure of 85mmHg. What is the molar fraction of the solvent if the solution has a vapor pressure of 68mmHg?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Since the solute is volatile, it will contribute to the total vapor pressure of the solution. As a result, we must incorporate it when solving for the total vapor pressure.

We can find the vapor pressures using Raoult's law.

Since we are solving for the molar fraction of the solvent, we will designate its molar fraction as . The sum of the molar fractions of each component must be equal to 1; thus, the molar fraction of the solute must be . Using these variables and the information given, we can solve for the molar fraction of the solvent.

Example Question #14 : Colligative Properties

What is the freezing point of a solution with  of sodium chloride in  of water?

 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The equation for freezing point depression is , where  is the change in temperature,  is a constant related to the solvent,  is molality, and  is the van't Hoff factor, which is the number of ion particles from each dissolved molecule. We simply plug these numbers into the equation to find the new freezing point.

We know our constant is . Molality is moles of solute per kilogram of solution, and we know that the density of water is one kilogram per liter and the molecular weight of sodium chloride is .

The van't Hoff factor is . Sodium chloride creates only two ions when dissolved, one  and one .

Using these values, we can solve for the freezing point depression.

The freezing point will be decreased by . The normal freezing point is , making the new freezing point .

Example Question #15 : Colligative Properties

What is the melting point of a  aqueous solution that contains  of ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Since a salt has been added to the pure water, we can find the new melting point of the solution by using the freezing point depression equation:

The change in temperature is equal to the freezing point constant for the solvent multiplied by the molality of the solution multiplied by the van't Hoff factor. The van't Hoff factor is the number of ions that a salt will dissociate into when in solution.

For this particular salt, the van't Hoff factor is three. The molality will be equal to the moles of solute over the mass of the solvent.

Using these terms together in the original equation, we can find the freezing point depression.

This is the change in temperature from the regular freezing point. Since the freezing point for pure water is , the new melting point is .

Example Question #1 : Concentration And Units

A 100mL solution is composed of 25% ethanol by volume and water. What is the mass of the solution?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

First we determine the mass of the ethanol in solution using its density. Using the percent by volume of ethanol, we know that there are 25mL of ethanol in a 100mL solution. The remaining 75mL are water.

Since the density of water is 1g/mL, we know that the mass of 75mL of water is 75g. The total mass is the sum of the ethanol and the water.

Example Question #2 : Titrations

What is the concentration if 40 g NaOH is dissolved in 1000 g of water

Possible Answers:
40 M
1 m
4 M
4 m
1 M
Correct answer: 1 M
Explanation:

first of all, M = molar; m = molal- M = mol solute/ L of solution; m = mol solute/ kg solvent

you have 40 g NaOH * 1 mol/40 g = 1 mol

1000 g of water is equivalent to 1 L

 

1 mol/L = 1M

Example Question #3 : Titrations

80.0g NaOH is put into 50000 mL water.  What is the molarity of the resulting solution?

Possible Answers:

0.625 M

1.6 M

0.0016 M

0.00004 M

0.04 M

Correct answer:

0.04 M

Explanation:

Molarity = mol solute / L soution

mol solute = 80 g NaOH * 1 mol / 40 g = 2 mol

L solution = 50000 mL water * 1 L/1000 mL = 50 L

2 mol / 50 L = 

Learning Tools by Varsity Tutors