Question

WHY is there a difference between how an electrolytes and non electrolytes affect collegiative properties? Be specific.

Answer 1

Electrolytes affect colligative properties much differently compared to non-electrolytes. A colligative property is a property of a solution ( vapor pressure, boiling point, freezing point, and osmosis) that will be affected by only the number of solute particles within the solution. In other words, it is a property that is affected by the concentration of the solution.

Answer 2

Electrolytes dissociate, so they create more than one particle in solution. For freezing point depression and boiling point elevation (and I think osmotic pressure, but I'm not sure), the more particles, the greater the change. Since non-electrolytes don't dissociate, they have a van't Hoff factor of 1. The change isn't as great.