Agra Public School, Artoni, Agra.

TO STUDY THE RATE OF EVAPORATION OF DIFFERENT LIQUIDS.

Submitted By:
Ashutosh Garg XII B

Submitted To:
Mr. Manish Pathak

Page 1 of 11

I express my gratitude to my principal Mr. Manish Pathak who is an incessant source of aspiration. I am indebted to Shashi maam for her valuable guidance and encouragement throughout the project work. I also thank CBSE, for instructing me to complete an investigatory project which has increased my knowledge about chemistry and helped me to develop the feeling of determination and hard work.

Page 2 of 11

 Introduction Factors effecting rate of evaporation Objective of the project Experiment 1 Experiment 2 Experiment 3 Experiment 4 Bibliography

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Page 3 of 11

When a liquid is placed in an open vessel, it slowly escapes into gas phase, eventually leaving the vessel empty. This phenomenon is known as vaporization or evaporation. Evaporation of liquids can be explained in terms of kinetic molecular model. Although there are strong intermolecular attractive forces which hold molecules of a liquid together, the molecules having sufficient kinetic energy can escape into gas phase if such molecules happen to come near the surface. In a sample of liquid all the molecules do not have same kinetic energy. There is a small fraction of molecules which have enough kinetic energy to overcome the attractive forces and escape into gas phase. Figure 1 shows typical energy distribution for molecules of a liquid. If E corresponds to the minimum kinetic energy required to overcome attractive forces and escape, then the shaded area in the graph represents the molecules which have enough energy to overcome the attractive forces and can undergo evaporation.

Fraction of Molecules

Lower Temperature

Higher Temperature

Kinetic Energy E Figure 1. Energy distribution at different temperatures. Evaporation causes cooling. This is due to the reason that the molecules which undergo evaporation are high energy molecules, therefore the kinetic energy of the molecules which left behind is less. Since the remaining molecules have lower average kinetic energy therefore, temperature must be lower. If the temperature is kept constant the remaining liquid will have the same distribution of molecular kinetic energies and the energy molecules will keep on escaping from the liquid

Page 4 of 11

into the gas phase. If the liquid is taken in an open vessel, evaporation will continue until whole of the liquid evaporates.

Various factors that change the rate of evaporation are: 1. Nature of liquid. The magnitude of intermolecular forces of attraction in the liquid determines to a large extent the speed of evaporation; weaker are the intermolecular forces of attraction larger is the extent of vaporization. For example, diethyl ether evaporates more readily than propyl alcohol. 2. Temperature. The rate of evaporation varies directly with temperature. Increasing the temperature also increases the fraction of molecules having sufficient kinetic energy to escape from the surface. This results in increased rate of evaporation. 3. Surface of the liquid. Molecules that escape the surface of liquid constitute evaporation. Therefore, larger surface area contributes in accelerating evaporation. 4. The composition of the environment. The rate of evaporation depends upon the flow of air currents over the surface of the liquid. Air current flowing over the surface of the liquid carries away the molecules of the substance in the vapour state, thereby preventing condensation and favouring evaporation.

Page 5 of 11

In this project, we shall investigate various factors that have already been discussed such as nature of liquid, surface area of liquid and temperature and find there correlation with the rate of evaporation of different liquids. We shall do the following experiments: 1. To compare the rates ether. 2. To study the effect of diethyl ether. 3. To study the effect of acetone. 4. To study the effect of of evaporation of water, acetone and diethyl surface area on the rate of evaporation of temperature on rate of evaporation of air current on the rate of evaporation.

Page 6 of 11

To compare the rates of evaporation of water, acetone and diethyl ether.

Three weighing bottles; 10 ml pipettes, stop watch, weighing balance.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Clean and dry three weighing bottles. Identify them as A, B and C. Pipette out 10 ml of water to bottler A with stopper. Pipette out 10 ml of acetone to bottler B with stopper. Pipette out 10 ml of diethyl ether to bottler C with stopper. Weigh each of the bottles and record their weights. Remove the stoppers from all the three bottles and start the stop watch. 7. Let the bottle remain exposed for 30 minutes. Now cover each of the bottle and weigh them again.

Weighing bottle mark

Liquid taken

Initial mass of bottle + liquid (W1)

Final mass of bottle + liquid after 30 minutes. (W2) 9g 6g 4g

Rate of evaporation W1 W 2 30 m 0.03 g/min 0.06 g/min 0.1 g/min

A B C

Water Acetone Diethyl ether

10 g 8g 7g

The rates of evaporation of the given three liquids is in the order Diethyl ether > Acetone > Water

Page 7 of 11

To study the effect of surface area on the rate of evaporation of diethyl ether.

Three petridishes of diameter 2.5 cm, 5 cm and 10 cm; with covers, 10 ml pipette and stop watch.

1. Clean and dry the petridishes and mark them as A, B and C. 2. Pipette out 10 ml of diethyl ether in each of the petridishes A, B and C and cover the immediately. 3. Uncover all the three petridishes simultaneously and start the stop watch. 4. Note the time when diethyl ether evaporates completely from each petridish.

Petridish mark A B C

Diameter of petridish 2.5 cm 5.0 cm 10.0 cm

Time taken for complete evaporation. 11 min 12 sec 2 min 48 sec 42 sec

It will be observed that maximum evaporation occurs in petridish with largest diameter followed by smaller and then smallest petridish. It is, therefore, concluded that rate of evaporation increases with increase in surface area.

Page 8 of 11

To study the effect of temperature on the rate of evaporation of acetone.

Two petridishes of same size, acetone, 10 ml pipette, thermometer, thermostat and stop watch.

1. Wash, clean and dry the petridishes and mark them as A and B. 2. Pour 10 ml of acetone in each of the two petridishes and cover them. 3. Maintain the temperature of thermostat at about 20 o C higher than room temperature. 4. Remove cover of petridish A and allow the liquid in it to evaporate at room temperature. 5. Now uncover petridish B and immediately place it in thermostat set at 20o C higher than room temperature. 6. Start the stop watch and note the time taken for complete evaporation of acetone in two petridishes.

Petridish mark A B

Temperature

Time taken for complete evaporation. 4 min 48 sec 1 min 9 sec

27o C 47o C

The observations clearly show that the rate of evaporation of acetone increases with increase in temperature.

Page 9 of 11

To study the effect of air current on the rate of evaporation.

Two petridishes of same size, acetone, 10 ml pipette, fan and stop watch.

1. Pour 10 ml of acetone in each of the two petridishes of the same size. 2. Keep one dish in a place where there is no fan and the other under a fan. 3. Start the stop watch. 4. Note the time when acetone evaporates completely from each petridish.

Petridish mark A B

Conditions

Time taken for complete evaporation. 2 min 10 sec 4 min 50 sec

With Fan Without Fan

The observations clearly indicate that liquid under the fan evaporates faster. This shows that the rate of evaporation increases with the flow of air current on the surface of the liquid.

Page 10 of 11

Page 11 of 11