What is Raoult's Law?

Answer 1

Raoult's Law is a law dealing with how the vapor pressure of a liquid changes when a solute or solutes are dissolved in it. The law states that the the vapor pressure of each component in a mixture (ideal) of liquids will be equal to the mole fraction of that component times the vapor pressure of that pure component.

Answer 2

Hello Austyn,

Simply put, Raoult's law states that the vapor pressure of a solvent over a solution is equal to the product of the mole fraction of the solvent in the solution and the equilibrium vapor pressure of the pure solvent.

Psolvent = Xsolvent P^osolvent

It was observed that when a non-volatile solute is dissolved in a liquid solvent to form an ideal solution (i.e., a solution consisting of similar structures between the solute and the solvent), the vapor pressure of the solvent is lowered.

All the best,

Randall