DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Abstract

       The purpose of this lab is to determine the molecular weight of a compound by measuring the freezing point depression.  When solute is added to a solvent the freezing point of the solution is lowered. The freezing point depression of the solution is dependent on the solvent and the amount of solute added not the nature of the solute.  To determine the change in freezing point depression the following equation can be used:    where Kf is the freezing point depression constant and m is the molality of the solution.  In this experiment the freezing point of a pure solvent, lauric acid will be measured by melting and then freezing it. Then the freezing point of the mixture of lauric acid and an unknown solute will be determined. The difference between the freezing point of the solution and the freezing point of pure lauric acid will be the freezing point depression of the unknown solute. From this freezing point change, the formula weight of the solute can be calculated by the equation:

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.