Question #9bc92
1 Answer
Mole fraction of pentane: 0.45.
Explanation:
So, you know that you're dealing with a solution that contains pentane and hexane in a
You also know that the vapor pressure of the two pure hydrocarbons at
This means that you can use Raoult's Law to determine what the vapor pressure of the mixture will be. According to Raoult's Law, the partial pressure of a component in a solution is equal to the vapor pressure of the pure component multiplied by its mole fraction in the solution.
Moreover, the vapor pressure of the solution is equal to the sum of the individual vapor pressures, in this context called partial pressures, of its components.
So, the partial pressure of pentane and of hexane will be
and
The mole fraction of a substance that's part of a mixture is defined as the number of moles of that substance divided by the total number of moles present in the mixture.
This means that you have
Use the aforementioned mole ratio to find a relationship between
The two mole fractions become
The total vapor pressure of the mixture will thus be
To get the mole fraction of pentane in the vapor phase, use the fact that you know the vapor pressure of pentane in solution.
SIDE NOTE I left the answer rounded to two sig figs.