Step 1: Define colligative properties Colligative properties include: - Osmotic pressure: Pressure required to prevent osmosis, proportional to solute concentration. - Depression of freezing point: Lowering of freezing point, proportional to molality. - Elevation of boiling point: Increase in boiling point, proportional to molality. - Vapor pressure lowering: Decrease in vapor pressure due to solute particles.
Step 2: Analyze each option - Osmotic pressure: Depends on the number of solute particles (van’t Hoff factor times concentration). Colligative. - Depression of freezing point: Depends on molality and the number of solute particles. Colligative. - Elevation of boiling point: Depends on molality and solute particle concentration. Colligative. - Refractive index: Measures how light bends in a medium. It depends on the chemical nature of both solute and solvent, not just the number of particles. Not colligative.
Step 3: Conclusion Refractive index is not a colligative property.