Raoult's law 2026-10-18
In the ideal solution and ideal gas vapor approximation, each component's partial pressure equals its liquid mole fraction times its pure-component vapor pressure at the same temperature:
These pressure formulas neglect the change in the pure-liquid reference between its saturation pressure and ; appreciable real gas behavior also requires a more general treatment. The ideal solution definition in terms of chemical potentials does not require either approximation.[ref]
A short derivation explains the reference choice. At vapor-liquid equilibrium, each component has the same chemical potential in the liquid and vapor. For an ideal gas mixture, chemical potential of an ideal gas gives
where is a reference pressure. Approximate by and subtract the pure-component equation from the mixture equation:
Taking the exponential function gives Raoult's law. Summing partial pressures and normalizing gives and ; this last step uses the ideal gas vapor assumption separately from the liquid model.
The law is named after François-Marie Raoult, who measured vapor pressures and freezing behavior of chemical solutions.[ref]
Relative humidity Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-31
Relative humidity is the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor to its saturation vapor pressure at the same temperature, usually expressed as a percentage.
Saturation ratio 2026-10-25
The ambient water vapor partial pressure divided by the equilibrium saturation pressure over a stated reference surface at the same temperature. Relative to flat pure water, atmospheric supersaturation is . A curved solute-containing cloud droplet generally has a different equilibrium saturation ratio from unity.
Vapor pressure 2026-10-14
The equilibrium pressure of a vapor in contact with its liquid or solid at a specified temperature. For pure liquid–gas phase coexistence with negligible interface effects, it is the pressure on their phase coexistence curve. In a gas mixture, distinguish the component's partial pressure from the total pressure; the pure-substance Integrated Clausius-Clapeyron relation does not describe the total pressure of arbitrary humid air.