What is the effect of impurities on boiling point?

In order to understand the effect of impurities on boiling point, one must first
understand what boiling point is. The boiling point of a solution is generally
defined as the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid is equal to
the pressure of the gas above it. It is important to note that a "normal boiling
point" of a solution is the temperature at which vapor pressure from the liquid
will equal one atmosphere. It is at this temperature, that the liquid vapor will
be released as a gas into the atmosphere. Importantly, the boiling point of a
solution remains the same even if more heat is added after it starts to boil.

Adding impurities to a solution, in most cases, increases the boiling point of

the solution. This occurs because the presence of impurities decreases the
number of water molecules available to become vaporized during boiling. Once
this occurs, it takes a greater amount of heat to cause the same amount of
impure solution to vaporize as it would take to cause a pure solution to
vaporize, thus raising the solution's overall boiling point. It is important to
realize however, that impurities do not always increase boiling point, and, in
certain rarer cases, can actually cause boiling point to decrease. With this in
mind, it is important to know exactly what impurities are being added to a
solution in order to determine the final effect the impurities will have on boiling
point.

Distinguishing between pure substances and mixtures

Pure substances have a sharp melting point but mixtures mel tover a range of
temperatures. This difference is most easily seen when the temperature of a
liquid is measured as it cools and freezes. The graph shows the cooling curve
for a sample of a compound called salol.
The temperature stays the same when a pure substance changes state

The horizontal part of the graph shows that the salol has a sharp melting point,
so it is pure. Impure salol (a mixture of salol and other substances) would
produce a gradual fall in temperature as it freezes.

The temperature changes slightly as an impure substance changes state

Bibliography

"GCSE Chemistry (Single Science) - Purity and Separating Mixtures - OCR

Gateway - Revision 1." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 30 July 2018.
<https://www.bbc.com/education/guides/zxysdxs/revision/1>.

"Project Report on Effect of Impurities on the Boiling Point." Topics, Sample

Papers & Articles Online for Free. N.p., 17 May 2016. Web. 30 July 2018.
<https://studymoose.com/project-report-on-effect-of-impurities-on-the-
boiling-point-essay>.

"What Is the Effect of Impurities on Boiling Point? ." Enotes.com. Enotes.com,

n.d. Web. 30 July 2018. <https://www.enotes.com/homework-
help/what-effect-impurities-boiling-point-605318>.