Partial Pressures in Liquid Mixtures and Osmotic Pressures

TL;DR

This paper defines partial pressure in liquid mixtures as wall pressure exerted by each component, establishing its importance and applicability to phase equilibrium and classical laws like Henry's and Raoult's.

Contribution

It introduces a unique definition of partial pressure in liquids and demonstrates its relevance to phase equilibrium and classical gas laws in liquid mixtures.

Findings

Partial pressure can be uniquely defined as wall pressure in liquid mixtures.

The law of partial pressures applies to strongly interacting liquid mixtures.

Phase equilibrium is governed by the balance of partial pressures for each component.

Abstract

We have shown in this investigation that the partial pressure can be defined uniquely as each wall pressure exerted by a component in liquid mixtures, and is an important observable physical quantity. As a consequence of this definition, the law of partial pressures is applicable to liquid mixtures with strong interactions. Furthermore, it has been shown here that the gas-liquid phase equilibrium in mixtures is established by the balance of each partial-pressure for every component between the two phases. Hence, for a dilute solution Henry's law, Raoult's law and van't Hoff's law can be derived on the basis of the concept of partial pressure.