Question

what is a constituent?

On the Lab Outline, it reads- states the Constituents, and how I determined them. It is of an Uknown Powder that was solved for.

Answer 1

A COMPONENT of a system in chemistry is a distinct chemical species in a mixture. If there are no reactions taking place, the number of COMPONENTS is the number of separate chemical species. A mixture of water and ethanol, for instance, has two components (but is a single phase). A mixture of ice and water has two phases but one component. If an equilibrium reaction occurs, the number of COMPONENTS is taken to be the number of chemical species minus the number of reactions.That is to say, the number of COMPONENTS in a system is the minimum number of independent species necessary to define the composition of all the phases present in the system. COMPONENT is the independent constituent in the system.

A CONSTITUENT of a system in chemistry is simply a certain kind of species present in a certain phase.Example: a solution of sodium chloride in water has three constituents, they are sodium ions, chloride ions, and water.

When no reaction takes place and there are no constraints (such as charge balance), the NUMBER OF COMPONENTS IS EQUAL TO THE NUMBER OF CONSTITUENTS. Thus pure water is a one component system, because we need only the species, water, to specify its composition. A mixture of water and ethanol is a two component system: we need the species water and ethanol to specify its components. An aqueous solution of sodium chloride has two components, because, by charge balance, the number of sodium ions must be the same as the number of chloride ions.