Past exam of the genetics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 Paper 1 7 b Solution 2026-10-20
The saturation concentration is the dilute-phase coexistence concentration at the specified temperature and solution conditions. On increasing the overall concentration through this boundary, a macroscopic condensed phase can first coexist with the dilute phase. The other branch gives the dense-phase concentration .
At the thermodynamic critical point, the two branches meet: their concentration difference vanishes. Its coordinates define the critical concentration and critical temperature . In the upper-critical model, admits no two-liquid coexistence. Thus is a temperature-dependent branch, whereas is the concentration at the endpoint.
Between coexistence concentrations, the lever rule gives the dense-phase volume fraction , assuming consistent concentration and volume definitions. Increasing total chromatin then primarily changes phase amounts rather than allowing the dilute phase to increase without bound.