Question 1

What is osmotic pressure?

Accepted Answer

Osmotic pressure is the minimum pressure needed to prevent solvent from flowing through a semipermeable membrane from a dilute solution to a concentrated one. It is a colligative property that depends on solute particle concentration.

Question 2

What is the van't Hoff factor?

Accepted Answer

The van't Hoff factor (i) represents the number of particles a solute produces when dissolved. For non-electrolytes (glucose), i=1. For NaCl, i=2 (Na+ and Cl-). For CaCl₂, i=3 (Ca²+ and 2Cl-).

Question 3

Why is R = 0.08206 used here?

Accepted Answer

R = 0.08206 L·atm/(mol·K) is the gas constant in units that give pressure in atmospheres when molarity is in mol/L and temperature is in Kelvin.

Question 4

What are applications of osmotic pressure?

Accepted Answer

Osmotic pressure is critical in biology (cell membrane function, kidney filtration), medicine (IV solutions must be isotonic), water purification (reverse osmosis), and determining molar masses of large molecules like proteins.

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