Question #ab304

1 Answer
May 31, 2017

I got "253.47 g/mol"253.47 g/mol for the molecular mass, although it asks for the molecular formula of the solute. Maybe I'm missing something here?

My best guess is that the gram atomic mass is supposed to be "32.065 g/mol"32.065 g/mol so that 32.065 xx 8 = 256.5232.065×8=256.52, which is somewhat close to 253.47253.47, indicating S_8S8...?


This seems to be combining the idea of vapor pressures via Raoult's law and utilizing the mol fraction, but the question is conflicting... not sure why it asks for the molecular formula if it gives a gram atomic mass.

Define the solute as XX and the solvent as YY. Then:

P_Y^"*" = "854 torr"P*Y=854 torr
P_Y = "848.9 torr"PY=848.9 torr

where "*"* indicates for the pure solvent.

From Raoult's law for ideal solutions, we have:

P_Y = chi_(Y(l))P_Y^"*"PY=χY(l)P*Y

= (1 - chi_(X(l)))P_Y^"*"=(1χX(l))P*Y,

where chi_(a(l)) = (n_(a(l)))/(n_(a(l)) + n_(b(l)))χa(l)=na(l)na(l)+nb(l) is the mol fraction of aa in the solution phase.

Since we know the drop in vapor pressure of the solvent YY due to adding the solute XX, we can calculate the mol fraction of XX.

chi_(X(l)) = 1 - P_Y/P_Y^"*"χX(l)=1PYP*Y

= 1 - ("848.9 torr")/("854 torr")=1848.9 torr854 torr

= 0.005972=0.005972

We can obtain the mols of XX in solution by the definition of the mol fraction.

chi_(X(l)) = 0.005972 = n_(X(l))/(n_(X(l)) + n_(Y(l)))χX(l)=0.005972=nX(l)nX(l)+nY(l)

We know the molar mass of the solvent, so we can get the mols of solvent:

100 cancel("g CS"_2) xx "1 mol"/(76.141 cancel("g CS"_2)) = "1.313 mols CS"_2 "in solution"

Therefore, we have:

0.005972 = n_(X(l))/(n_(X(l)) + "1.313 mols")

=> 0.005972n_(X(l)) + 0.005972(1.313) = n_(X(l))

=> 0.9940n_(X(l)) = 0.007843

=> n_(X(l)) = "0.007890 mols"

So, the molecular mass should be:

"2.0 g"/"0.007890 mols" = color(blue)("253.47 g/mol").