Consider two solutions made using water as the solvent: 1.0 m CaCl2 and 3.0 m sucrose. Describe how the osmotic pressures of these two solutions compare. Explain why this is true.

Osmotic pressure is calculated by the product of the concentration in molarity, the temperature, the vant Hoff factor (3 for CaCl2 and 1 for sucrose) and R, universal gas constant. At the same temperature, the osmotic pressures of both solutions are equal.

π = CRTi

For CaCl2,

π = (1) RT (3) = 3RT

For sucrose,

π = (3) RT (1) = 3RT