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The Properties of Water

Blaine Folsom and Kyle Goth


Two
September 6, 2015 at 4 pm.
Introduction to Biology with a Lab.

Materials Used for Experiment


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Clear Tape x1
Coin- Nickle
Drinking Water- 2 ounces.
Distilled Drinking Water
Dish Soap
Blue Food Coloring
Isopropyl Alcohol
Matches
Straight Pins
Olive Oil
50-100 Paper Clips
Roll of Paper Towels
Source of Tap Water
Timer- IPhone timer.
100 mL Beaker
250 mL Beaker
Burner Fuel
Burner Stand
Capillary tubes- Sizes 0.25mm, 0.58mm, and 1.0mm
25 mL graduated cylinder
Digital Scale
Metric Ruler
Safety Goggles
Short Pipets
25x100 mm Test Tube
Analog Thermometer

Methods Used for Experiment

Exercise 1- Water and its Unique Properties


Step 1- Fill a 100 mL beaker with tap water so it is almost full
Step 2- Hold a needle vertically, as close to the water in the beaker as possible. Dont let it touch
the water
Step 3- Gently drop the needle onto the water.
Step 4- Record your observations.
Step 5- Retrieve the needle. Make sure it is completely dry between each step.
Step 6- Now hold the needle horizontally, as close to the water in the beaker as possible. Dont
let it touch the water
Step 7- Gently place the needle onto the water.
Step 8-Record your observations.
Step 9- Drain the water and dry both the beaker and the needle.
Part II
Step 1- Place a paper towel on a flat surface.
Step 2- Place the 2 oz. 8 oz. cup or drinking glass on the paper towel.
Step 3- Fill the cup or drinking glass just above the brim with tap water without allowing the
water to overflow.
Step 4- Estimate how many paper clips you think can be added to the cup before the water
overflows, breaking the surface tension. Record your estimation.
Step 5- Add paper clips to the cup 1 at a time while counting the number added. The paper clips
will sink to the bottom of the cup. Add paper clips until the surface tension breaks and water
spills over the cup.
Step 6- Record your observation.
Step 7- Drain the water from the cup or glass and then dry both the cup or glass and paper clips.
Part III
Step 1- Place a paper towel on a flat surface.
Step 2- Place a coin of any type on the paper towel. Ensure that the coin is level.
Step 3- Fill a pipet with tap water.
Step 4- Make a guess as to how many drops of water you think can be placed on the coin before
the surface tension of the water will break and the water will flow off the face of the coin.
Record your hypothesis.
Step 5- Using the pipet, place 1 drop of water at a time onto the coin until the water flows over
the face of the coin. Count the drops as they are added and record the final number of drops.

Exercise 2: Capillary Action


In this exercise, you will further investigate the properties of cohesion and adhesion in water.
You will determine how the internal diameter of a capillary tube affects the rate the water travels
up the height of the tube.

Step1- Remove the small cardboard piece that contains the 3 capillary tubes of varying internal
diameters. The internal diameters of the capillary tubes are 0.25 mm, 0.58 mm, and 1.0 mm.
Think about adhesion and cohesion and develop a hypothesis as to which capillary tube would be
the first to draw water through the height of the tube. Which tube would be the last to draw water
though the height of the tube? Record your hypothesis.
Step 2- Carefully remove the 3 capillary tubes from the cardboard piece.
Step 3- Invert the 25 x 150 mm test tube so that it is able to stand on a table.
Step 4- Use tape to carefully affix each of the capillary tubes to the outside of the 25 x 150 mm
test tube. Ensure that the bottom of the capillary tubes are evenly aligned, 25 mm above the
bottom of the test tube, see Figure 9. It is important that the tape is placed near the center of the
capillary tubes and not blocking the openings at the top and bottom of the tubes. Note the tubes
are evenly aligned. Note that the opening of the test tube is flush against the table.
Step 5- Fill the 100-mL glass beaker with approximately inch of tap water.
Step 6- Add 23 drops of blue or green food coloring to the water and swirl the beaker to mix the
solution.
Step 7- Start the timer and immediately place the test tube into the beaker with the colored water.
The water will immediately begin to travel up the capillary tubes. Allow the capillary tubes to
remain in the colored water for 30 minutes. Do not disturb or bump the setup during the 30
minutes.
Step 8- At the end of the 30 minutes, use the ruler to measure the distance (cm) the water
traveled in each capillary tube. Record your data.
Step 9- Create a line graph of the relationship between the internal diameter of the capillary tube
and the distance water traveled. Plot the internal diameter on the independent axis (x-axis), and
plot the distance traveled on the dependent axis (y-axis).
Step 10- Resize the graph and insert it into Data Table 6 of your Lab Report Assistant. Refer to
the appendix entitled, Resizing an Image for guidance with resizing an image.
Step 11- Wash and dry the beaker. Return all items to the kit for future use.

Exercise 3: Density and Specific Gravity


In this experiment, you will determine the density of water, olive oil, and isopropyl alcohol. You
will then calculate the specific gravity of each liquid.
Step 1- Gather the graduated cylinder, distilled water, short stem pipets, isopropyl alcohol, and
olive oil.
Step 2- Place the clean, dry, 25-mL graduated cylinder on the tared scale. Record the mass of the
graduated cylinder (g) for water.
Step 3- Fill the graduated cylinder with 5.0 mL of distilled water; use the short stem pipet to help
measure exactly 5.0 mL of water.
Step 4- Place the 25-mL graduated cylinder with 5.0 mL distilled water on the tared scale.
Record the mass of the graduated cylinder + liquid (g) in under Mass B.

Step 5- Calculate the mass of the water by subtracting Mass A from Mass B. Record the
mass of the water.
Step 6- Pour the water down the drain and fully dry the graduated cylinder.
Step 7- Repeat steps 26 for the isopropyl alcohol and olive oil.
Step 8- Calculate the densities of the water, isopropyl alcohol, and olive oil. Record the density
of each liquid.
Stepv9- Calculate the specific gravity for each of the 3 liquids and record in Data Table 7.
Step 10- Wash and dry all items and return them to the kit for future use.

Exercise 4: Temperature and Phase Changes


In this exercise, you will make observations of the phase changes of water (H2O). You will
measure temperature and create a heating curve to determine the melting point and boiling point
of water.
Step 1- Gather the 250-mL beaker, approximately 150 mL of crushed ice, a watch or timer, the
thermometer, burner stand, burner fuel, and matches.
Note: Large ice cubes may be crushed by placing them in a large plastic bag, placing the bag on
a durable surface, and breaking the pieces apart with a hammer or other heavy object.
Step 2- Fill the beaker to about the 150-mL line with crushed ice.
Step 3- Place the thermometer in the center of the ice. Do not allow the thermometer to touch the
sides or bottom of the beaker.
Step 4- After holding the thermometer in the ice for about a minute, note the time and record
temperature at 0 minutes. Additionally, record your observations about the state of matter (solid,
liquid, or gas) of the water.
Step 5- Uncap the burner fuel, light the wick with a match or lighter, and place the fuel under the
stand on a pie pan.
Step 6- Place the beaker on the burner stand. Keep holding the thermometer in the middle of the
ice.
Step 7- Start the timer and begin taking temperature and observation readings every minute,
recording your findings.
Note: It is important that you record both the temperature AND the state or states of matter
present every minute throughout the experiment.
8. Gently stir the ice with the thermometer as it heats.
9. Continue to stir the ice or water and record temperature and observations every minute until
the water has boiled for 5 minutes. Do not allow the thermometer to rest on the glass of the
beaker.
10. Extinguish the burner fuel by lightly placing its cap over the flame; do not tighten cap until
the burner fuel container has fully cooled.
11. Thoroughly wash and rinse the equipment for future use.
12. Using the temperature data recorded, create a heating curve.

Results (Kyle Goth)


Observations
In exercise 1, during the needle drop to test the surface tension of water the vertical drop
resulted in a quick drop, with the needle landing horizontally on the bottom of the cup. During
the horizontal drop, the needle hesitated on the surface of the water before landing on the bottom
of the cup. During the paperclip test with the cup filled just to the point of overflowing it took 48
clips to finally overflow the cup, far more than the original estimation of five paper clips. During
the drops of water test it took 34 drops before the water flowed over the side of the penny, much
more than the original estimation of seven.
In exercise 2, the smallest tube drew up water through its full height faster than either of
the other tubes. A graph of the findings is found below:

In exercise 3, the density of water was found to be 0.88 g/mL with a specific gravity of
1.00. The density of the isopropyl alcohol was found to be 0.82 g/mL with a specific gravity of
0.93. The density of olive oil was found to be 0.90 g/mL with a specific gravity of 1.02.
In exercise 4, the crushed ice began to change from a solid at 5, one minute into
heating. Within about four minutes, as the temperature rose to 25 the ice had changed states
from solid to fully liquid. As the temperature continued to rise the condensation on the side of the
beaker disappeared at 80. The liquid began to bubble at 88 and was at a full boil, with
steam once the temperature reached 100. A graph of the findings is below:

Conclusions (Kyle Goth)


Hypothesis:
If you use a 1 mm capillary tube, a 0.58 mm capillary tube and a 0.25 mm capillary tube then the
1 mm capillary tube will be the first to draw the water up through the full height of the tubefollowed by the 0.58 mm tube and the 0.25 mm tube.

Based on the findings in exercise 2 this hypothesis must be rejected. The findings are
actually the opposite of what was hypothesized. In the 30 minutes that the capillary tubes sat in
the water the 0.25 mm tube drew up the most centimeters worth of water while the 1.00 mm tube
drew up the least.
Through the experiment and the use of the textbook, this helped me to learn more about
adhesion and cohesion. Adhesion is the clinging of one substance to another and is what helps
the tubes draw up water because it counters the downward pull of gravity (Campbell, et. al.
26). Cohesion is the tendency of molecules to stick together and helps the water molecules pull
through the tube together (Campbell, et. al. 26, 2014). An example of the concept demonstrated
by this experiment in a real life situation would be if you walked through a rain puddle and the
water is drawn up through the fabric of your pants. Cohesion keeps the water molecules together,
as adhesion works against gravity to draw the water up.
The most noticeable error that could have affected the findings, is that before beginning
the experiment as I took the capillary tubes out the packaging I snapped the ends off of them.
While they still worked fine for the purposes of drawing up water, this definitely affected the
distance the water was able to travel.

Works Cited (Kyle Goth)


Campbell, N.A., Dickey, J.L, Reece, J.B., Simon, E.J. & Taylor, M.R. (2012) Biology concepts
& connections (7th ed.) San Francisco, CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.

Carmichael, Rick. "The Properties of Water." LabPaq. Labpaq.labarchives.com, 1 Aug. 2014.


Web.

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