The ultimate goal of this paper is the determination of an azeotrope within a methanol-acetone system. An azeotrope is the point in a chemical system at which coexisting compositions of vapor and liquid phases are equal. The importance of this point lies in the fact that azeotropes are undesirable; they prevent one from completely separating a mixture through distillation. This state can occur over a range of temperatures and for the purposes of this paper there is only one azeotrope for each given temperature. All azeotropes occur at relative extrema in pressure. By finding these extrema, we find the mole fractions of an azeotrope for a given temperature in the methanol-acetone system. Problem StatementAn azeotrope exists when conditions involving pressure, temperature and mole fractions are just right. Let 1 , 2 , 1 and 2 represent, respectively, the mole fractions and partial pressures of methanol and acetone in a given methanol-acetone system. Given the equation, = 1 1 1 + 2 2 2 , determine the range of temperatures within an overall range of 180 to 500 Kelvin for which an azeotrope will exist for the given methanol-acetone system. A graphical example in which the Azeotrope occurs is depicted below. Motivation

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