NEET UG » NEET UG Study Material » Chemistry » All you Need to Know About Isotherms and Their Types

All you Need to Know About Isotherms and Their Types

An isotherm is the line drawn on a map connecting points with a constant temperature. The most used isotherms are in the field of weather forecasting or meteorology. It helps the expert to monitor the temperature of the earth at various points at constant pressure. They conjointly show the variation of time against the temp. With height within the atmosphere or with depth in soil or water, the characteristics of warmth flow into soil, for instance, are simply unreal from a graph showing temperature as an operation of depth and time. An appropriate way to compare the hot climates is to draw the temp for every location as an operation of your time of day and time of year.  

Adsorption Isotherm

The adhering nature of the atoms, ions, and molecules of gas, liquid or dissolved solids to a surface is named adsorption. This method creates a scene of the adsorbate on the surface of the adsorbent. The molecules of gases or liquids or the solutes in solutions adhere to the surface of the solids. In the adsorption method, 2 substances are concerned. One is that the solid or the liquid on that adsorption happens, and it’s known as an adsorbent. The second is the adsorbate, that is, the gas or liquid or the substance from an answer that gets adsorbate on the surface.

Adsorbent: The substance on whose surface the surface assimilation happens is thought of as adsorbent.

Adsorbate: The substance whose molecules get adsorbate on the surface of the adsorbent (i.e. solid or liquid) is thought of as adsorbate. 

Adsorption is completely different from absorption. In absorption, the molecules of a substance are uniformly distributed within the bulk of the opposite, whereas in adsorption, molecules of one substance are given in higher concentration on the surface of the opposite substance.

Depending upon the nature of forces present between adsorbate molecules and adsorbent, this is  classified into two types:

  1. Physical adsorption: If the attracting forces present between adsorbate and adsorbent are Vander Waals forces, then this type of adsorption is known as physical sorption. It’s additionally referred to as Vander Waal’s sorption. In this type of adsorption, the attracting force of the adsorbent and the adsorbate is very weak. This type of adsorption can be changed or can be altered by giving heat or by reducing the pressure. 
  1. Chemical adsorption: if the existing attracting force of the adsorbate and the adsorbent are of equal strength as to the chemical bond, then this type of adsorption is known as chemical adsorption. In adsorption, the force of attraction is extremely sturdy; thus, adsorption can’t be simply reversed.

Langmuir Isotherm Adsorption

In the nineteenth century, Langmuir revealed a brand-new model isotherm for gases adsorbable to solids, that preserved his name. It’s a semi-empirical isotherm derived from a planned kinetic mechanism. This isotherm was supported by completely different assumptions; one is that dynamic equilibrium exists between adsorbable gasified molecules and, therefore, the free gasified molecules.

This is based on the following four assumptions:

  • The surface is uniform in the case of adsorbent, and all the adsorption sites are equal.
  • Adsorbed molecules don’t move.
  • All sorption happens through identical mechanisms.
  • In most cases of adsorption, only a single layer is formed. The adsorbate molecules don’t deposit on the other surface. The molecules of adsorbate are deposited only on the vacant surface of the adsorbent.

Freundlich Adsorption Isotherm

The scientist Freundilch expressed an observed equation for representing the equal variation of adsorption of an amount of gas adsorbable by unit mass of solid adsorbent with pressure. This equation is named after the scientist and is known as the Freundlich adsorption isotherm. Freundlich isotherm properly established the link of adsorption with pressure at lower values, it didn’t predict the price of sorption at higher pressure.

The derivation of the Freundlich isotherm is based on the assumption that the positively charged ions and negatively charged ions are adsorbed to the same surface at the same time. 

This results in the evolution of the attractive forces between the adsorbed positive charged ions and negatively charged ions on that surface. 

Conclusion

So, we have to get to know about the isotherm and where it is used. We also discussed the adsorption isotherm. The isotherm is used to draw the plot of the temperature of the earth’s surface at different points at constant pressure.

faq

Frequently asked questions

Get answers to the most common queries related to the NEET UG Examination Preparation.

Where is isotherm used?

Isotherms are mainly used in weather forecasting. It is used to see the distribution of temperature on the earthR...Read full

What is adsorption? Discuss its uses.

Adsorption is a type of isotherm in which it shows the relationship between the adsorbate liquid stage and the adsor...Read full

What is the importance of isotherm?

Isotherm is vital for the adsorption process. The facts of the isotherm express to us the equal relationship between...Read full

What is the assumption of the Langmuir adsorption isotherm?

The surface of the adsorbent is uniform, that is, all the sorption sites are equivalent. Adsorbed molecules don̵...Read full