Given equal concentrations of sodium chloride and sugar in water, how would the osmotic pressure of the sugar solution compare to that of the salt solution....?

1 Answer
Apr 21, 2016

The sugar solution would have an osmotic pressure TWICE that of a salt solution.

Explanation:

Sodium chloride speciates in aqueous solution to give #Na^+# and #Cl^-# ions aquated by water molecules. Because there are 2 particles delivered by each sodium chloride formula unit, it has twice the osmotic potential of a non-electrolytic species such as sugar.