Question

Let’s say you have a beaker with ice, water and water vapour together. What is the number of phases and what is the number of components you would find in this beaker?

• A. Phases – 1 , components – 1
• B. Phases – 1, components – 3
• C. Components – 1, Phases – 3
• D. Components – 3, Phases – 3

Answer 1

The correct option is C Components – 1, Phases – 3

Alright. From our knowledge of phase, we can figure out that any region with a distinct boundary would form a separate phase. So, we know that ice, water and water vapor all form different phases. So number of phases would be 3.
Now, coming to components, we learnt that a component is a chemically distinct species. Here, all 3 phases are made up of the same chemical substance, which is $H_{2}O$. So, number of components is just 1.