For the liqids/solutions that were used during this experiment, should vapor pressure ever be negative? Why or why not?
We were comparing methanol and ethanol. I did obtain a negative value for methanol, but I dont know if it has to do with my pressure being incorrect in one of the trials.
Vapor pressure is defined as the pressure exerted by the vapors in thermodynamic equilibrium with the liquid. The minimum vapor pressure can be zero only when there are no vapors present in the system.
Hence, negative vapor pressure has no existance.
But, there can be negative relative vapor pressure. Suppose if
we are comparing vapor pressures of two components, then it can be
negative with respect to the other component.
For example, if the vapor pressure of methanol is 1 atm and that of
ethanol is 2 atm, then the relative vapor pressure of methanol will
be -1 atm with respect to ethanol.
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