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Atkins & de Paula:
Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences

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Atkins & De Paula: Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences
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Chemical potential of a component of an ideal dilute solution 3.29

The variation of the chemical potential of the solute with the composition of the solution expressed in terms of the mole fraction of solute is given by

Where x is the mole fraction of the solute, T is the temperature (kelvin), and R is the gas constant (J K-1 mol-1).

Note that the chemical potential of the solvent is lower in the mixture than for the pure solute (for an ideal system). This behavior is likely to be shown by a dilute solution in which the solvent is almost pure and the solute obeys Henry’s Law.

To graph the change in chemical potential (J mol-1) enter the parameter (i.e., T) and hit New Plot. Up to 5 plots can be displayed at one time. The Clear button will remove all plots. To see the parameters for each plot hit the Legend on/off button. The Redraw button will refresh the graph. This is useful when the function domain (i.e., x ) has been changed. To see the value of each plot at a given point, move your cursor to the desired location then click and hold.

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