Colligative Properties of Ionic Solutions

Abstract

It will be noted that conductance, as explained in the previous chapter, has not been characterized as a colligative property. The term colligative (from the Latin, colligatus, meaning joined together) denotes the intimate relationships of the properties of solutions in terms of total numbers of all particles present, both with and without electrical charges. As the electrical conductivity of a solution is a function exclusively of the charged particles therein (ions), in a strictly definitive sense we would be necessarily excluding from consideration the electrically uncharged molecules that are always present in a dissolved weak electrolyte, be it acid, or base, or pseudo-salt, because these do not actually transport current.