The Essence of Henry's Law
Imagine you are holding a sealed bottle of your favorite carbonated drink. Above the liquid, there is a high-pressure gas, and inside the liquid, gas molecules are happily dissolved. This everyday phenomenon is perfectly described by Henry's Law.
Henry's Law states that the partial pressure (P) of a gas in the vapor phase is directly proportional to its solubility, often expressed as the mole fraction (S or χ), in the solution.
Mathematically, we write this as:
Here, KH is the Henry's law constant. It is a unique signature for every gas at a specific temperature.
Decoding the Relationship
To truly understand what KH tells us, let's rearrange our master equation to solve for solubility (S):
Look closely at this equation. If we keep the pressure (P) constant, the solubility (S) is inversely proportional to Henry's constant (KH).
What does this mean physically? You can think of KH as a measure of a gas's "reluctance" to dissolve. A higher value of KH means the gas is more stubborn; it prefers to stay in the vapor phase rather than mixing into the liquid. Therefore, a higher KH results in a lower solubility.
Evaluating the Statements
Now, let's look at the options provided in the question. Option (b) claims: "Higher the value of KH at a given pressure, higher is the solubility of the gas in the liquids."
Based on our derived inverse relationship (S∝KH1), this statement is completely backwards! A higher KH actually means lower solubility. Thus, statement (b) is the incorrect one.
As a bonus insight, remember that increasing the temperature gives gas molecules more kinetic energy, making them more likely to escape the liquid. This means KH increases with temperature, which is exactly why warm soda goes flat so quickly!