TestComparingConductivityWithMultipleSubstances

Authors:
Ackles,RyanHerzler,JoshYafuso,ShendoRuppel,Matt
Affiliation:
10thGradeChemistryClass,HighTechHighNorthCounty,SanMarcos,CA.

Introduction

Tobeginwith,chemicalbondingisimportantinchemistrybecausewithoutthisconcept,the
worldwouldonlyincludetheonehundredeighteenelementsthatarecurrentlyinexistence,withno
elementsbeingcombined.Thisresultwouldmostlikelyendtheentirehumanracegiventhefactthat
water(twohydrogenatomsandoneoxygenatom)wouldalsonolongerremain.Valenceelectronsare
locatedinanatomsoutershellandformbondswithadjacentatoms.Thenumberofvalenceelectrons
notonlydeterminesthenumberofpossiblebondsthatacertainatomcanform,butalsotheatomscharge
aswellasthenumberofunpairedelectrons.1 Theforceatwhichoppositelychargedparticlescombineis
equaltothechargeoftheelectronmultipliedbythechargeoftheprotonanddividedbythedistance
betweenthesesubatomicparticles.2

Inacovalentbond,electronsaresharedbetweentwoseparateatoms3 whileinmetallicbonding,
looseelectronsclingontopositivelychargedmoleculeshiddenwithinmetalelements.4Anionicbond
occurswhenoppositelychargedionsattract,specificallywhenoneionneedsanelectronthathasbeen
lostandanotherionneedstoreleaseitselfofanelectron.5 Conductivityistheamountofpowera
substancehastoconductenergybymeansofsound,heat,light,orelectricity.Inthisexperiment,Sodium
Chloride(NaCl)wascomparedtoCalciumChloride(CaCl2),MagnesiumSulfate(MgSO4),andSucrose
(SU).Fouroftheguidingquestionsbeforepartakinginthisexperimentwere,
Docovalentdissolved
moleculesimpactconductivity?,Dopolyatomicionsforconductivitybehavedifferentlythanelemental
ions?,Doesthenumberofionsinanionicsolidaffecttheconductivitytrendobserved?,
and
Howwell
canyoupredicttheconcentrationofsaltinanunknownsolution?

Experimental
Eachoftheabovequestionsledtotheexperimentationofadifferentsubstance.Forthequestion
of
Docovalentdissolvedmoleculesimpactconductivity?,
MagnesiumSulfate,otherwiseknownas
epsomsalt,wastestedbecauseitisastrongenergyconductorandwhetherthemassofMagnesium
Sulfatehadanyimpactonitsconductivityornotwascompletelyunknown.Asidefromthesefour
subquestions,thebigunknownwas,
Howdochemicalbondsaffectproperties?

Shimizu,K.HOWTO:PREDICTTHENUMBEROFVALENCEELECTRONSFORANATOM.HOWTO:PREDICTTHENUMBEROF
VALENCEELECTRONSFORANATOM,(accessed2015).

TheCovalentBond.ValenceElectrons,(accessed2015).

Fung,C.Mirzaee,N.CovalentBonds.Chemwiki,(accessed2015).

4
Clark,J.MetallicBonding.Chemwiki,(accessed2015).
5

Clark,J.IonicBonds.Chemwiki,(accessed2015).
1

Totesteachsubstance,thefirststepwastotakeaportionofthecontentsandmeasuringthemout
onascale.Inordertoseethedifferenceinconductivitylevelsforeachsubstance,eachofthefour
differentmaterialswasmeasuredascloseaspossibleto0.1,0.2,0.3,and0.4grams.Aftertakingthese
fourmeasurements,thesubstancesweremixedwithwaterandpouredintomultiplebeakersofwaterto
thinouttheliquidandmakeitlessthick.Thiswouldallowabetterreadingontheconductivitymeter.
Finally,themixturewaspouredintoa100mLbeakerandmeasuredwiththeconductivitymeter.Todo
this,theonbuttonwaspressedandthecenterbuttonwasheldasthebottomsideofthemeterloweredinto
thesubstancefilledwater.Afterafewseconds,theconductivityreadingwasreceivedanddataforour
resultswasimmediatelyrecordedinanotebook.Bydefinition,conductivity,measuredinpartsper
million,is

thedegreetowhichaspecifiedmaterialconductselectricity...
Aswhatwassaidpreviously,
thisprocesswasrepeatedusingaboutorexactly0.1,0.2,0.3,and0.4gramsofeachofthefour
substances.

ResultsandDiscussion

Forthissection,agraphhasbeencreateddisplayingtheconductivityandconcentrationinmol/L
(theconcentrationofmolesperliter)forallofthesubstances.Intermsofthesetwoareas,theblueline
showsthetrendofSodiumChloride,theorangelinerepresentsSucrosestrend,thegreentrendlineisthat
ofCalciumChloride,andtheredlineshowsthetrendofMagnesiumSulfate.

BasedonthetrendlineofSodiumChloride,itsapparentthatitmayverywellbethemost
consistentlineonthegraph.Therelationshipbetweentheconductivityandconcentrationispretty
consistentandthebestfitlineclearlyshowsthis,ridingrightalongsidetheactualdatapoints.The
equivalentRsignifiestheclosenessbetweenthebestfitlineandtheactualdatapointsandincomparison

to1.0(themaximumpossiblevalueforR)SodiumChlorideranksfirstaboveallothersubstances.
SodiumChloridealsohappenstohavethehighestconductivityat0mol/Landthisiseveidentthroughthe
yinterceptinthef(x)equation.

WhileSodiumChloridemighthavethemostconsistentandcontinuousbestfitline,Magnesium
Sulfatesurpassesitsconductivitylevelforanygivenconcentrationat0.004mol/L.Throughanalyzing
theresultsoftheexperiment,itseemsthatMagnesiumSulfatesbestfitlinedividesthegreaterandlesser
slopesofCalciumChlorideandSodiumChloriderepectively.CalciumChloridehowever,hasthe
greatestconductivitylevelperhundredthmol/L.Althoughitsconductivityatlevelat0mol/Lisnotthe
highestofthesubstances,CalciumChloridesbestfitlineslopeisfarsuperiortoitsthreecounterparts.In
fact,itsoverallconductivitylevelendsupexactly2.76timesgreaterthanSucrosesconductivitylevel.If
Sucrosesamountofconductivityat0mol/Ldidnotexist,itsabilitytoconductenergywouldbeidentical
throughoutalldatapoints(505).Sucrosesslopeis1.19timeslessthanthesecondlowestinthis
category,SodiumChloride.Thesespecificpiecesofdatamakesensewhenyouputthemtogether.As
discussedearlier,conductivityisthelevelatwhichsomethingcreatesenergyandSucroseisatypeof
sugar.Conclusively,ourbodiesdonotsustainhighconductivitylevelsaftertheindigestionofsugar.

Finally,theweightofacompletelyunknownsubstanceneededtobesolvedforgivenits
conductivitylevel.Todothis,aproportionwascreated,withtheweightofSodiumChloridemultiplied
bytheconductivityleveloftheunknownandthendividedbytheconductivitylevelofSodiumChloride.
Thisprocesswascompletedforthedatagivenwith100and250mLofwaterandtheweightofthe
unknownsubstanceturnedoutalmostexactlythesame0.175.Throughcreatingandsolvingsimple
proportions,hypothesescanbeformedandresultscanbeprovedvalid.

Conclusions
(writteninfirstperson)
AlthoughIwasnotexactlyableto
fully
diveintotheexperimentandinsteadrecordeddata
regardingtheexperiment,Iwascomfortablewithmyroleandwasstillabletodiscoverfirsthandthat
differentchemicalbondscreatedifferentamountsofenergyandformdifferentaspectsofouruniverse.I
thoughtthatthiswasanextremelyhelpfulexperimentbecauseitshowedmethatsometimesthebiggest
thingsinchemistryaresomeofthesmallestthings.Inotherwords,everythinginourworldistheresult
ofachemicalreactionoratomandinorderforme(asabeginnerinthefieldofchemistry)tograspthe
biggerideasoftheuniverseandunexplainedphenomenons,Ihavetounderstandthesesmaller,yet
importantbuildingblocksofscience.

Aftercompletingtheseexperiments,Iwonderifthisexperimentcouldbedonewithelements.
Wouldthisexperimentlookanydifferentandhowcouldwemeasureelementssuchasgold,tungsten,and
chromium?Inaddition,whatistheelement/chemical/substancewiththehighestconductivitylevelat0.1
mol/L?Whatistheelement/chemical/substancewiththelowestconductivitylevelat0.1mol/L?Would
theseresultsbethesameordifferentfromtheelement/chemical/substancewiththehighestandlowest
meltingpointtemperatures?Inotherwords,isconductivityofasubstanceacompletelydifferentidea
thanthemeltingpointofthatsubstance?

References
1. Shimizu,Ken."HOWTO:PREDICTTHENUMBEROFVALENCEELECTRONSFORAN
ATOM."
HOWTO:PREDICTTHENUMBEROFVALENCEELECTRONSFORANATOM.

N.p.,n.d.Web.18Nov.2015.
<
http://www.chem.sc.edu/faculty/shimizu/333/Chem_333/1a.i.html
>.

2. "TheCovalentBond."
ValenceElectrons
.BodnerGroup,n.d.Web.18Nov.2015.
<http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch8/>.

3. Fung,Camy,andNimaMirzaee."CovalentBonds."
Chemwiki
.N.p.,02Oct.2013.Web.18
Nov.2015.
<http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Theoretical_Chemistry/Chemical_Bonding/General_Principles_of_
Chemical_Bonding/Covalent_Bonds>
.

4. Clark,Jim."MetallicBonding."
Chemwiki
.N.p.,02Oct.2013.Web.18Nov.2015.
<http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Theoretical_Chemistry/Chemical_Bonding/General_Principles_of_
Chemical_Bonding/Metallic_Bonding>.

5. Clark,Jim."IonicBonds."
Chemwiki
.N.p.,02Oct.2013.Web.18Nov.2015.
<http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Theoretical_Chemistry/Chemical_Bonding/General_Principles_of_
Chemical_Bonding/Ionic_Bonds>.