Finding Molecular Weight from Freezing Point Depression

Click For Summary
The discussion focuses on calculating the molecular weight of a compound containing boron, nitrogen, and hydrogen based on its freezing point depression in benzene. The approach involves using the freezing point depression equation to determine the molality of the solution, which is then used to find the number of moles of solute. The mass of the compound (6.32g) is divided by the calculated number of moles to derive the molecular weight. It is noted that the calculation yields molality, not molarity, and that the composition by mass of the elements is not necessary for this specific calculation. The primary goal is to find the molecular weight rather than the molecular formula.
Nicolaus
Messages
73
Reaction score
0
A compound contains boron (40.3%), nitrogen (52.2%), and hydrogen (7.5%) - by mass. If 6.32g of this compound if dissolved in 100g of benzene, the solution freezes at 1.30 celcius. If the cryoscopic constant is 5.12 and freezing pt of benzene is 5.48, what is the molecular weight of compound?

I first rearranged the freezing pt depression equation to solve for the molarity of the solution (in mol of solute per kg of solvent), then multiplied this by the mass of of the solvent to obtain number of moles of solute. Being given the mass (6.32g) of the compound, I divided this mass by the number of moles calculated to obtain the molecular weight of the compound. Is this the correct approach?
I can calculate the actual molecular formula by using the % by mass and the molecular weight computed.
 
Chemistry news on Phys.org
Your description of what you did sounds OK - just remember you have calculated molality, not molarity.

Unless you have quoted only part of the problem, you are not asked to find the molecular formula, so you can safely ignore the composition information.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
4K
Replies
10
Views
17K
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
3K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
4K
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
10K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
12K
Replies
6
Views
3K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
3K
  • · Replies 17 ·
Replies
17
Views
4K