What do you call a ratio of the number of moles of one component of a mixture to the total number of moles of all components?

Majority of reactions happen in solutions and so it is important to understand how the amount of substance is expressed when it is present in the solution. There are many ways in which the amount of substances in solution is expressed:

Molarity

It is one of the most widely used unit of concentration and is denoted by M. It is defined as no. of moles of solute present in 1 liter of solution. Thus,

=

Mass Per Cent or weight percent (w/w %)

It is the ratio of the mass of solute to the mass of solution multiplied by 100 to calculate mass percent. It is also known as weight percent and is represented by (w/w %). You may have seen this symbol on the back of medicines and tablets. It is one of the most commonly used units of representing concentration.

Mathematically,

Mass per cent =

Molality

It is defined as moles of solute present in 1-kilogram of solvent. It is denoted by m.

Molality, =

What do you call a ratio of the number of moles of one component of a mixture to the total number of moles of all components?

Mole Fraction

The mole fraction or molar fraction (xi) is defined as the amount of a constituent (expressed in moles), ni, divided by the total amount of all constituents in a mixture (also expressed in moles), ntot:

The sum of all the mole fractions is equal to 1:

An indicative example of Molarity

Question:– How much water should be added to 1 liter of 1 M KOH solution to make it 0.2 M KOH solution?

Solution:-

1M solution of KOH contains 1 mole of KOH in 1 liter of solution,

So, moles of KOH present in solution = 1 mole

Now we know,

Molarity =

=

=

=

Hence, if 1 mole of a solution is present in 5 litres of solution, then the molarity of solution will be 0.2 M.

So, extra 4 litres of water should be added to the 1 liter of 1 M KOH solution to make it 0.2 M KOH solution.

Molarity is the ratio of a solvent’s moles to a solution’s total litres. Both the solute and the solvent are part of the solution. Molality, on the other hand, is the ratio of the solute moles to the solvent kilogrammes. Mole fraction is the mole of a constituent divided by the total mole of all constituents in a mixture.

The ratio of the number of moles of that component present in the solution to the total number of moles of all the solution components is known as the mole fraction of any component of a solution. Molality is known as the total solvent moles found in a solvent kilogramme.

Use the molecular formula to find the molar mass; divide the mass of the compound by the molar mass of the compound, represented in grammes, to obtain the number of moles.

HCl moles are in a solution of 25.0 mL. Molarity is the ratio of solute moles and solution length. We can obtain the acid solution molarity by dividing the amount of moles of HCl by the volume (L) of the solution in which it was dissolved.

You split the moles of solute by the litres of the solution to get the molarity. In a litre of solution, for example, a 0.25 mol/L NaOH solution contains 0.25 mol of sodium hydroxide. You need to know the number of solute moles and the total volume of the solution to determine the molarity of a solution.

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What do you call a ratio of the number of moles of one component of a mixture to the total number of moles of all components?

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In a chemical reaction, compounds react in a set ratio. If the ratio is unbalanced, there will be leftover reactant. To understand this, you need to be familiar with the molar ratio or mole ratio.

  • The mole ratio compares the number of moles in a balanced equation.
  • This is the comparison between the coefficients in front of the chemical formulas.
  • If a formula lacks a coefficient, it is the same as saying there is 1 mole of that species.
  • Mole ratios are used to predict how much product a reaction forms or to determine how much reactant is needed to make a set amount of product.

A mole ratio is ​the ratio between the amounts in moles of any two compounds involved in a chemical reaction. Mole ratios are used as conversion factors between products and reactants in many chemistry problems. The mole ratio may be determined by examining the coefficients in front of formulas in a balanced chemical equation.

Also known as: The mole ratio is also called the mole-to-mole ratio.

Mole ratio units are either mole:mole or else it is a dimensionless number because the units cancel out. For example, it's fine to say a ratio of 3 moles of O2 to 1 mole of H2 is 3:1 or 3 mol O2: 1 mol H2.

For the reaction:
2 H2(g) + O2(g) → 2 H2O(g)

The mole ratio between O2 and H2O is 1:2. For every 1 mole of O2 used, 2 moles of H2O are formed.

The mole ratio between H2 and H2O is 1:1. For every 2 moles of H2 used, 2 moles of H2O are formed. If 4 moles of hydrogen were used, then 4 moles of water would be produced.

For another example, let's start with an unbalanced equation:

O3 → O2

By inspection, you can see this equation is not balanced because mass is not conserved. There are more oxygen atoms in ozone (O3) than there are in oxygen gas (O2). You cannot calculate mole ratio for an unbalanced equation. Balancing this equation yields:

2O3 → 3O2

Now you can use the coefficients in front of ozone and oxygen to find the mole ratio. The ratio is 2 ozone to 3 oxygen, or 2:3. How do you use this? Let's say you are asked to find how many grams of oxygen are produced when you react 0.2 grams of ozone.

  1. The first step is to find how many moles of ozone are in 0.2 grams. (Remember, it's a molar ratio, so in most equations, the ratio is not the same for grams.)
  2. To convert grams to moles, look up the atomic weight of oxygen on the periodic table. There are 16.00 grams of oxygen per mole.
  3. To find how many moles there are in 0.2 grams, solve for:x moles = 0.2 grams * (1 mole/16.00 grams).

    You get 0.0125 moles.

  4. Use the mole ratio to find how many moles of oxygen are produced by 0.0125 moles of ozone:moles of oxygen = 0.0125 moles ozone * (3 moles oxygen/2 moles ozone).

    Solving for this, you get 0.01875 moles of oxygen gas.

  5. Finally, convert​ the number of moles of oxygen gas into grams for the answer:grams of oxygen gas = 0.01875 moles * (16.00 grams/mole)

    grams of oxygen gas = 0.3 grams

It should be fairly obvious that you could have plugged in the mole fraction right away in this particular example because only one type of atom was present on both sides of the equation. However, it's good to know the procedure for when you come across more complicated problems to solve.

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  • International Bureau of Weights and Measures (2006). The International System of Units (SI) (8th ed.). ISBN 92-822-2213-6.
  • Rickard, James N.; Spencer, George M.; Bodner, Lyman H. (2010). Chemistry: Structure and Dynamics (5th ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. ISBN 978-0-470-58711-9.
  • Whiteman, D.N. (2015). Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences (2nd ed.). Elsevier Ltd. ISBN 978-0-12-382225-3.
  • Zumdahl, Steven S. (2008). Chemistry (8th ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN 0-547-12532-1.