The freezing point (in °C) of a solution containing 0.1 g of K3[Fe(CN)6] (Mol. Wt. 329) in 100 g of water (Kf = 1.86 K kg mol–1) is
T = kf × m × i × 1000
= 2.26 × 10–2 2.3 × 10–2
This question involves calculating the freezing point depression of a solution using colligative properties. The key concept is that adding a solute lowers the freezing point of a solvent, and the amount of depression depends on the molality of the solution and the van't Hoff factor (i), which accounts for the dissociation of the solute.
Step 1: Calculate the molality (m) of the solution.
Molality (m) is defined as the number of moles of solute per kilogram of solvent.
Given:
First, find the number of moles of solute:
Now, calculate molality:
Step 2: Determine the van't Hoff factor (i).
K3[Fe(CN)6] is an ionic compound that dissociates in water:
This produces 4 ions in total. Therefore, the van't Hoff factor i = 4.
Step 3: Apply the freezing point depression formula.
The formula for the depression in freezing point (ΔTf) is:
Given Kf = 1.86 K kg mol-1, i = 4, m = 3.04 × 10-3 mol kg-1.
First, calculate 4 × 1.86 = 7.44
Then, 7.44 × 3.04 × 10-3 = 22.6176 × 10-3 = 0.0226176 K
This is approximately 2.26 × 10-2 K.
Since freezing point depression is a decrease, ΔTf = -2.26 × 10-2 °C (The magnitude in K and °C is the same).
Step 4: Compare with options.
The calculated value is -2.26 × 10-2 °C, which is very close to the option -2.3 × 10-2 °C (the slight difference is due to rounding during calculation).
Final Answer: The freezing point of the solution is -2.3 × 10-2 °C.
Colligative Properties: These are properties of solutions that depend on the number of solute particles in a given amount of solvent, not on the nature of the solute particles. Freezing point depression is one such property.
Freezing Point Depression: The decrease in the freezing point of a solvent upon the addition of a non-volatile solute. The formula is:
Where:
van't Hoff Factor (i): This factor indicates the number of particles a solute dissociates into in solution. For non-electrolytes, i = 1. For electrolytes, i equals the total number of ions produced per formula unit.
Molality (m): A concentration unit defined as: