Very Short Answer Questions

Very Short Answer Questions (PYQ)

Q.1. Define mole fraction.
[CBSE Delhi 2012]
Ans. Mole fraction of a component in a solution may be defined as the ratio of moles of
that component to the total number of moles of all the components present in the
solution.
Q.2. What is meant by ‘reverse osmosis’?
[CBSE (AI) 2011]
Ans. If a pressure larger than the osmotic pressure is applied on the solution side, the
solvent starts to flow from the solution into the pure solvent through the semipermeable
membrane. This phenomenon is called reverse osmosis.
Q.3. What is the similarity between Raoult’s law and Henry’s law?
[CBSE Delhi 2014]
Ans. The similarity between Raoult’s law and Henry’s law is that both state that the
partial vapour pressure of the volatile component or gas is directly proportional to its
mole fraction in the solution.
Q.4. Out of two 0.1 molal solutions of glucose and of potassium chloride, which
one will have a higher boiling point and why?
[CBSE (F) 2013]
Ans. 0.1 M KCl solution will have higher boiling point as KCl dissociates in the solution
Q.5. Define van’t Hoff factor.
[CBSE Delhi 2012]
Ans. van’t Hoff factor may be defined as the ratio of normal molecular mass to
observed molecular mass or the ratio of observed colligative property to normal
colligative property.
Q.6. What are isotonic solutions?
[CBSE Delhi 2012, 2014]
Ans. The solutions of the same osmotic pressure at a given temperature are called
isotonic solutions.
Q.7. How is it that measurement of osmotic pressures is more widely used for
determining molar masses of macromolecules than the elevation in boiling point
or depression in freezing point of their solutions?
[CBSE (AI) 2009]
Ans. The osmotic pressure method has the advantage over elevation in boiling point or
depression in freezing point for determining molar masses of macromolecules because
(i) Osmotic pressure is measured at the room temperature and the molarity of solution
is used instead of molality.
(ii) Compared to other colligative properties, its magnitude is large even for very dilute
solutions.

Very Short Answer Questions (OIQ)

Q.1. Give an example of solution containing a solid solute in a solid solvent.
Ans. Alloys like copper in gold.
Q.2. Is smoke a homogeneous solution? If not, then what is it?
Ans. No, it is a colloidal solution.
Q.3. What do you mean by 10% aqueous solution of sodium carbonate?
Ans. It means that 10 g of Na2CO3 is present in 100 g of the solution
Q.4. How does the molarity of a solution change with temperature?
Ans. Molarity decreases with increase in temperature as volume of solution increases
with increase in temperature.
Q.5. When and why is molality preferred over molarity in handling solutions in
chemistry?
Ans. Molality is preferred in studies that involves changes in temperature as in some of
the colligative properties of solutions. This is because molality depends on masses of
solvent which do not change with temperature.
Q.6. What do you understand by ‘colligative properties’?
Ans. Colligative properties are those properties which depend upon the number of
moles of solute particle but not on the nature of solute particles.
Q.7. Why is the vapour pressure of a solution of glucose in water lower than that
of water?
[NCERT Exemplar]
Ans. This is due to decrease in the escaping tendency of the water molecules from the
surface of solution as some of the surface area is occupied by non-volatile solute,
glucose particles.
Q.8. State any two characteristics of ideal solutions.
Ans. Ideal solutions (i) obey Raoult’s Law (ii) Δmix H = 0, Δmix V = 0
Q.9. What type of liquids form ideal solutions?
Ans. Liquids that have similar structures and polarities form ideal solutions.
Q.10. Under what condition do non-ideal solutions show negative deviations?
Ans. When the new forces of interaction between the components are stronger than
those in the pure components, then non-ideal solutions show negative deviations.
Q.11. What are maximum boiling azeotropes? Give one example.
Ans. Maximum boiling azeotropes are those which boil at higher temperature than
boiling point of each component in pure state, e.g., 68% nitric acid and 32% water by
mass.
Q.12. What are minimum boiling azeotropes? Give one example.
Ans. Minimum boiling azeotropes are those which boil at lower temperature than boiling
point of each component in pure state, e.g., 95.5% ethyl alcohol and 4.5% water by
mass.
Q.13. Define molal elevation constant or ebullioscopic constant.
Ans. Molal elevation constant is defined as the elevation in boiling point when one mole
of non-volatile solute is added to one kilogram of solvent.
Q.14. Define molal depression constant or cryoscopic constant.
Ans. It is the depression in freezing point when 1 mole of non-volatile solute is
dissolved in 1000 g of solvent.
Q.15. What do you understand by the term that Kf for water is 1.86 K kg mol–1?
Ans. It means that the freezing point of water is lowered by 1.86 K when 1 mole of non-
volatile solute is dissolved in 1 kg of water.
Q.16. What is an antifreeze?
Ans. A substance such as ethylene glycol which is added to water to lower its freezing
point is called an antifreeze. It is named so as it delays freezing.
Q.17. What is de-icing agent? How does it work?
Ans. Common salt is called de-icing agent as it lowers the freezing point of water to
such an extent that it does not freeze to form ice. Thus, it is used to clear snow from
roads.
Q.18. What is ‘reverse osmosis’?
Ans. If the pressure applied on the solution is greater than the osmotic pressure then
the solvent molecules start to move from solution into solvent through semipermeable
membrane. This process is called reverse osmosis.
Q.19. State how does osmotic pressure vary with temperature.
Ans. Osmotic pressure increases with increase in temperature.
Q.20. Why is osmotic pressure of 1 M KCl higher than 1 M urea solution?
Ans. This is because KCl dissociates to give K+ and Cl– ions while urea being a
molecular solid does not dissociate into ions in the solution.
Q.21. What is the van’t Hoff factor for a compound which undergo dimerisation in
an organic solvent?
Ans.

Q.22. What would be the value of van’t Hoff factor for a dilute solution of K2SO4 in
water?
Ans.

Q.23. Why is glycol and water mixture used in car radiators in cold countries?
[HOTS]
Ans. Ethylene glycol lowers the freezing point of water. Due to this, coolant in radiators
will not freeze. Otherwise, radiator will burst due to freezing of coolant (water).
Q.24. Why are the aquatic species more comfortable in cold water in comparison
to warm water?
[HOTS]
Ans. At a given pressure the solubility of oxygen in water increases with decrease in
temperature. Presence of more oxygen at lower temperature makes the aquatic species
more comfortable in cold water.
Q.25. Why does the use of pressure cooker reduce cooking time?
[HOTS]
Ans. The weight over the lid does not allow the steam to go out. As a result, pressure
inside the cooker becomes high. Higher the pressure, higher is the boiling point and
faster is the cooking.
Q.26. The dissolution of ammonium chloride in water is an endothermic process
but still it dissolves in water readily. Why?
[HOTS]
Ans. This is because of entropy change. In this case, ΔS is +ve.

The ions that were held together in crystalline solid are free and moving in all possible
directions. Its entropy has increased and this makes TΔS > ΔH, i.e., ΔG = –ve.

Q.27. Which of the following solutions will have the highest boiling point:

(i) 1 M BaCl2 (ii) 1 M Urea (iii) 1 M FeCl3 (iv) 1 M NaCl.

[HOTS]

Ans. FeCl3 solution As number of ions produced is maximum in

FeCl3 solution. The colligative property ΔTb will be maximum in case of FeCl3.

Q.28. Which one of these has the highest freezing point?

(i) 1 M glucose (ii) 1 M NaCl (iii) 1 M CaCl2.

[HOTS]

Ans. 1 M glucose solution has the highest freezing point because it has lowest

Q.29. What will happen to freezing point of a potassium iodide aqueous solution
when mercuric iodide is added to solution?

[HOTS]
Ans.

Mercuric iodide forms a complex with potassium iodide, therefore, the number of solute
particles (KI) in the solution decreases resulting in the decrease in the value of ΔTf , i.e.,
depression in the freezing point. As a result, the freezing

point of the solution will increase.