Resumen de Vapor Pressure Lowering by Nonvolatile Solutes
This short article highlights a fundamental error that is entrenched in introductory chemistry textbooks. It is true that the addition of a nonvolatile solute causes a lowering in the vapor pressure of a solution. The error lies in attributing this vapor pressure lowering to the "blocking" of surface sites by nonvolatile particles. This is a totally fallacious argument for a number of reasons and the true explanation is to be found in the entropy changes that occur as a nonvolatile solute is added to a solution.
