Henry's law

Henry's Law is a principle in chemistry that states that the amount of dissolved gas in a liquid is proportional to its partial pressure above the liquid. The law was formulated by the British chemist William Henry in 1803.

Overview

Henry's Law is used to quantify the solubility of gases in liquids. The law states that at a constant temperature, the amount of a given gas that dissolves in a given type and volume of liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of that gas in equilibrium with that liquid. This relationship is written as:

C = kP

where:

• C is the solubility of the gas at a fixed temperature in a particular solvent (in units of molarity),
• k is Henry's law constant, and
• P is the partial pressure of the gas.

Applications

Henry's Law has many practical applications. It is used in the fields of physical chemistry, separation processes, chemical engineering, and environmental science. For example, it is used to predict the solubility of gases in water during gas absorption and desorption in water treatment processes. It is also used to estimate the amount of gases released during brewing, winemaking, and soft drink production.

Limitations

While Henry's Law is useful, it has its limitations. It is only accurate for dilute solutions and ideal gases, and it does not account for the effects of temperature or the interactions between gas molecules.

See also

• Gas laws
• Ideal gas law
• Raoult's law
• Dalton's law

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