Rate of Evaporation and Intermolecular Forces.

388 Words2 Pages
Rate of Evaporation and Intermolecular Forces Laboratory Report General Chemistry Laboratory Bernard Determining the Rate of Evaporation and Intermolecular Forces. Introduction Evaporations occur when a liquid absorbs energy and changes to gas. The evaporation process occurs only at the surface of a liquid compared to the boiling process in which liquid also changes to gas at the bottom of the liquid where the additional heat source is located. Two types of organic compounds were encountered in this experiment- alkanes and alcohols. Alkanes composed of only carbon and hydrogen atoms are referred to as hydrocarbons. A hydrocarbon with the hydroxyl group is known as alcohol. The experiment was to determine and examine the structure of the alkanes and alcohols and the presence and relative strength of the two intermolecular forces. Intermolecular forces are the attractions that exist between atoms and molecules. The strength of the intermolecular forces of attraction determines whether a substance will be a solid, a liquid, or a gas. It also determines the physical properties of a solid and liquids such as boiling point, surface tension, viscosity, and rate of evaporation. The two main intermolecular forces we dealt with are Hydrogen bonds and London dispersion forces. Procedure The digital thermometer was wrapped at the end with a piece of filter paper and secured with a rubber band. The thermometer was hanged from a test tube clamp on the ring stand. From prior studies, we found n-pentane to have a high evaporation rate so n- pentane was used as the standard timing for the other liquids. The filter paper was immersed in the the compound till it was completely soaked and the time was recorded till the temperature began to rise. The same procedure was repeated for each

More about Rate of Evaporation and Intermolecular Forces.

Open Document