Nernst Distribution Law

Nernst Distribution Law

 

a law that determines the relative distribution of a component that is soluble in two liquids, these liquids being immiscible or miscible to a limited extent. This law is one of the laws applying to ideal dilute solutions. It was discovered by W. Nernst in 1890. The Nernst distribution law states that, at equilibrium, the ratio of the concentrations of a third component in two liquid phases is a constant. The law may be expressed in the form c1/c2 = k, where c1 and c2 are the molar equilibrium concentrations of the third component in the first and second phase, respectively; the constant k is the distribution coefficient, which is temperature dependent. The Nernst distribution law permits us to determine the most favorable conditions for the extraction of substances from solutions.