Chemistry & Materials Science

Raoult's Law Calculator

Simulate an ideal mixture of two volatile liquids to calculate the partial vapor pressures and the total combined vapor pressure of the solution.

Torr
Torr
Total Solution Vapor Pressure
240.00 Torr
Partial Pressure of A (Pᴀ)60.00 Torr
Partial Pressure of B (Pʙ)180.00 Torr
Mole Fraction of A in Vapor Phase (Yᴀ)0.2500
Mole Fraction of B in Vapor Phase (Yʙ)0.7500

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Mixing Volatile Liquids

The standard Vapor Pressure lowering equation assumes that you dissolved a solid powder (like salt) into a liquid. The powder never evaporates.

But what happens if you mix two liquids together that both want to evaporate, like mixing Water and Ethanol (Alcohol)? Both liquids will fight to escape into the air, creating a combined, mixed vapor pressure.

Raoult's Law for Ideal Solutions

The French chemist François-Marie Raoult discovered that if the two liquids mix perfectly (an "Ideal Solution" where they don't chemically react or repel each other), their partial pressures are entirely predictable.

The vapor pressure that Liquid A contributes is simply its pure vapor pressure multiplied by its mole fraction in the mixture. You do the exact same thing for Liquid B, and then add them together to get the total pressure.

The Equation

Ptotal=(XAPA)+(XBPB)\begin{aligned} P_{total} = (X_A \cdot P^\circ_A) + (X_B \cdot P^\circ_B) \end{aligned}

Where:
PtotalP_{total}=
Total Vapor Pressure of the Mixture
XA,XBX_A, X_B=
Mole Fractions of Liquids A and B
PA,PBP^\circ_A, P^\circ_B=
Pure Vapor Pressures of Liquids A and B

The Vapor Phase is Always Richer

An incredibly important rule of Raoult's Law: The gas floating above the liquid mixture will always contain a higher percentage of the more volatile liquid. If you mix 50% Water and 50% Alcohol, the gas floating above it might be 80% Alcohol because it evaporates faster. This is the entire scientific basis for Distillation.

Frequently Asked Questions

An ideal solution occurs when the intermolecular forces between molecule A and molecule B are exactly identical to the forces between A-A and B-B. Benzene and Toluene create a nearly perfect ideal solution because they are structurally almost identical.

If liquids A and B hate each other (like oil and water), they will try to escape the mixture faster than predicted. The total vapor pressure will be much higher than Raoult's Law calculates.

If liquids A and B strongly attract each other (like forming hydrogen bonds), they will hold onto each other tightly and refuse to evaporate. The total vapor pressure will be much lower than the calculation predicts.