excelet

Exploring Osmotic Pressure

Let's investigate how concentration, temperature, and solute behavior
influence the osmotic pressure of a solution.
<---- net water movement

conc. left
side

Click on the tabs to navigate

1
1
1
1

0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0

left cell

right cell

adjust concentrations

conc. right
side

concentration

Which way does

water migrate in
this osmosis cell?

1
1
1
1

1
0

1
0
left

right

cell

cell

Sinex 2007

Osmotic Pressure

How does osmotic pressure, , vary with molar concentration of these aqueous solutions?
How does temerature influence the results?
T=
298
K

(solute)
0.000
0.050
0.100
0.150
0.200
0.250

0.0
1.2
2.4
3.7
4.9
6.1

atm

What variables
influence the slope
of the line?
Can you derive an
equation? answer

(solute) (particles)
0.000
0.050
0.100
0.150
0.200
0.250

0
1.22329
2.44658
3.66987
4.89316
6.11645

25
20

How does "i" influence the results?

i=
1
1
Show the concentration
of total particles
van't Hoff factor
0

15

ratio

10
5

f(x) = 24.5x

0
0.000

---->
0.050

0.100
0.150
concentration, M

0.200

0.250

298 K with i = 1 for non-electrolytes

Can the van't Hoff factor by less than 1?

answer0

What is the value of "i" for weak electrolytes?

answer
Sinex 2007

solute
sugar
urea
NaCl
KNO3
Na2SO4
Ca(NO3)2
Fe(NO3)3
Na3PO4

i
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4

When acetic acid is placed in a nonpolar solvent, it dimerizes so

H3C

O
H3C

OH
acts as nonelectrolyte

HO

C
OH

CH3

half as many particles in solution

two molecules of acetic acid are held
together by two hydrogen bonds in
the dimer.

Deriving the equation for osmotic pressure

The van't Hoff factor or "i" is the number of moles of particles produced in solution per mole of solute.
For nonelectrolytes i = 1, for strong electrolytes i = 2 or more depending on the number of ions produced.
So for a mole of NaCl, you get 2 moles of ions, one mole Na + and one mole of Cl-, so i = 2.
For weak electrolytes that produce two ions, such as acetic acid, use the calculator to determine the value of
i from the percentage dissociation:
dissociation
0

i
1

Since the slope varies directly with both temperature and the van't Hoff factor,

= slope x concentration
= k x T x concentration
= k' x T x i x concentration
= 0.0821 x T x i x concentration
Verify that k' = 0.0821 (the gas constant, R) by placing the values of T and i in for a specific slope.
slope = k' x T x i and solve for k'

= iRTC where C is the molarity

Sinex 2007

Acetic Acid at 298K

(solute)
0.000
0.010
0.025
0.050
0.100
0.150
0.200
0.250

%dissoc.
0
4.24
2.68
1.90
1.34
1.10
0.95
0.85

i
0.00
1.04
1.03
1.02
1.01
1.01
1.01
1.01

0
0.26
0.63
1.25
2.48
3.71
4.94
6.17

(i = 1)

slope =

24.71

24.47

%error =

-0.97

0
0.24
0.61
1.22
2.45
3.67
4.89
6.12

%error
0
-4.07
-2.61
-1.86
-1.32
-1.08
-0.94
-0.84

Since most weak electrolytes have so small

a dissociation, especially at higher concentrations,
using an i = 1 is not much error.

7
6
5

f(x) = 24.71x
R = 1.00

4
3
2
1
0
0.000

0.050

0.100
0.150
concentration, M

Sinex 2007

0.200

0.250