Mole fraction

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The mole fraction is a measure of the concentration of a component substance in a mixture of substances. It is defined as the number of moles of a component substance in a mixture divided by the total number of moles of the mixture.^[1] It may be expressed as:

${\displaystyle x_{\mathrm {a} }={\frac {n_{\mathrm {a} }}{n_{\mathrm {a} }+n_{\mathrm {b} }+n_{\mathrm {c} }\ldots }}={\frac {n_{\mathrm {a} }}{n_{\mathrm {total} }}}}$

where:
${\displaystyle x_{\mathrm {a} }}$	= the mole fraction of component ${\displaystyle \mathrm {a} }$ in the mixture
${\displaystyle n_{\mathrm {a} }}$	= the number of moles of component ${\displaystyle \mathrm {a} }$ in the mixture
${\displaystyle n_{\mathrm {b} }}$	= the number of moles of component ${\displaystyle \mathrm {b} }$ in the mixture
${\displaystyle n_{\mathrm {c} }}$	= the number of moles of component ${\displaystyle \mathrm {c} }$ in the mixture
${\displaystyle n_{\mathrm {total} }}$	= the total number of moles in the mixture

For gases, mole fractions are equal to volume fractions. Mole fractions are dimensional numbers and they are often referred to as mol fractions.

Applications[edit]

Mole fractions are very commonly used in chemistry, thermodynamics, chemical engineering and other disciplines to express concentrations of specific substances in gas mixtures and liquid solutions.