Science Common Sense

1745 - What is Raoult's Law and ideal solution?

Imagine you have a mix of two different liquids, like water and another liquid. Raoult's Law helps us understand how they behave when they're mixed together.

Raoult's Law says that the amount of a liquid that turns into vapor in the mixture depends on its amount in the mixture, not on the other liquids it's mixed with.

An 'ideal solution' is when the two liquids mix perfectly and follow Raoult's Law perfectly. This means they mix well with each other and behave exactly as we expect.

In an ideal solution:

• The two liquids mix nicely without changing shape or behavior.
• The amount of each liquid that turns into vapor is proportional to its amount in the mixture.

However, in real life, not all mixtures behave like ideal solutions. But Raoult's Law helps us understand how they behave and can be used to predict the behavior of many mixtures.