Buret Experiment to Explore Correlations between Physical and Chemical Properties of Alcohols and Salt Solutions

TCE

The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

Table of Contents

Abstract Volume 19 (2014) pp 125-132

Buret Experiment to Explore Correlations between Physical and Chemical Properties of Alcohols and Salt Solutions

Rachel T Mikula†, Aaron T Calvin^†, Willis W Brown^†, Stephen I Edwards^†, Bianca S Farley^†, Haley A Franklin^†, Rebekah E Graham^†, Jermila S Ingram^†, TysheonMcGreggor^†, Andrew J Mock^†, Alesia Nicole Neloms^†, Chelsie D Northcutt^†, Mehulkumar P Patel^†, Rachel L Robertson^†, Frankie A Stackhouse^†, Gregory R Anzalone^†, Pamela L Brown^†, Andrew V DeLong^†, Anthony J Fino^†, Alexis B Garza^†, Ashley G Humphries^†, Brittany S Larcart^†, James C Lord^†, Chandler B Massey^†, Tyler L Peterson^†, Michael J Reaves^†, Jeffrey M Roland^†, Keyanna M Seville^†, Thomas Manning*^,†, Aurora Pérez Gramatges^‡

†Chemistry Department, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Ga, 31698, tmanning@valdosta.edu; ‡Departamento de Química, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), RJ, Brazil, 22451-900
Received January 31, 2014. Accepted March 10, 2014.

Published: 22 May 2014

Abstract. In this series of economical experiments involving alcohols and NaCl dissolved in water, the rate at which a liquid moves through a capillary tube at the bottom of a buret is correlated with a range of physical and chemical parameters. Students also use computational methods to obtain additional parameters. They then plot eighty graphs and are asked to explain correlations between parameters such as time vs. viscosity, time vs. heat of vaporization, time vs. molecular weight, and time vs. surface area. It is important to develop new exercises in any chemical education environment, taking into account the economics of the solutions and equipment and correlating it with an appropriate theory and experimental level that is covered in a course such as physical chemistry.

Key Words: Laboratories and Demonstrations; general chemistry

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: tmanning@valdosta.edu)

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