Partial molar property

A partial molar property is a thermodynamic quantity which indicates how an extensive property of a solution or mixture varies with changes in the molar composition of the mixture at constant temperature and pressure. Essentially it is the partial derivative of the extensive property with respect to the amount (number of moles) of the component of interest. Every extensive property of a mixture has a corresponding partial molar property. A partial molar property is a thermodynamic quantity which indicates how an extensive property of a solution or mixture varies with changes in the molar composition of the mixture at constant temperature and pressure. Essentially it is the partial derivative of the extensive property with respect to the amount (number of moles) of the component of interest. Every extensive property of a mixture has a corresponding partial molar property. The partial molar volume is broadly understood as the contribution that a component of a mixture makes to the overall volume of the solution. However, there is more to it than this: When one mole of water is added to a large volume of water at 25 °C, the volume increases by 18 cm3. The molar volume of pure water would thus be reported as 18 cm3 mol−1. However, addition of one mole of water to a large volume of pure ethanol results in an increase in volume of only 14 cm3. The reason that the increase is different is that the volume occupied by a given number of water molecules depends upon the identity of the surrounding molecules. The value 14 cm3 is said to be the partial molar volume of water in ethanol. In general, the partial molar volume of a substance X in a mixture is the change in volume per mole of X added to the mixture.