Question

Define the term mole fraction giving one example.

Answer 1

The mole fraction of a particular component in a solution is the ratio of the number of moles of that component to the total number of moles of all the components present in the solution.

Mathematically,

`"Mole fraction of a component" = "Number of moles of the given component"/"Total number of moles in the solution"`

When n_A moles of component A and n_B moles of component B are combined to form a solution, the mole fractions χ_A and χ_B of components A and B are as follows:

`chi_A = n_A/(n_A + n_B)` and

`chi_B = n_B/(n_A + n_B)`

It is to be noted that the sum of mole fractions of all components of a solution is always equal to one. For example, in the above case, χ_A + χ_B = 1.