This is an important question. Here is my Golden Rule... Nonvolatile solutes do not break apart,,,,,, they are non-electrolytes and include enzymes, sugars, proteins, and virtually all organic molecules. A volatile solute is ionic.....for example...KBr, which breaks into 2 particles,,,K and Br ions. CaCl2 would break into 3, Li2CO3 would break into 2 Li + and 1 C03-- to give 3. Be careful and note that polyatomic ions stay together as I just showed you. Let us do one more. How many particles will NaNO3 give? Well....we have 1 Na + and 1 polyatomic ion NO3 - hence we get 2. Hope this helps ! Dr. Romano
For example, Raoult's law with volatile solutes, is a little bit different than raoults law with non volatile solutes. Do I need to know both, or just non volatile/