In the second part of the lab, we had to measure how much each liquid spread out and how fast each liquid evaporated. We put a drop of each of the six liquids on the table. We ranked them in order of 1 to 7 with 1 being "spreads out the most" and "evaporates the quickest", and 7 being "spreadas out the least" and "evaporates the slowest". We learned that there was correlation between whether a liquid was polar or nonpolar, how much each liquid spread out and how fast each liquid evaporated. We answered three questions related to the second part of this lab.
For the first question, we had to explain how the amount a liquid spreads out is related to the polariy of that subance. From observing each of the liquids spread out and evaporate, we recorded data which helped us find the correlations. We found that the more polar a substance is, the less it spread out. For example, water is very polar, and it spread out the least. We ranked it number 7. On the other hand, hexane is very nonpolar, and it spread out the most. We ranked it number 1.
The second question asked us to explain how the rate of evaporation is related to the polarity of that substance. We found that the less polar a substance is, the faster it evaporates. For example, water is very polar, and it took the most time for it to evaporate. But hexane is very nonpolar, and it evaporated the quickest.
Our third question was to list other factors (other than polarity) that might influence the rate of evaporation. I think an important one is temperature. If we spill water, and it's not very humid or humid outside, it takes a lot longer for the water to evaporate than if it's hot and humid. So I think that the temperature plays an important role in how long it takes substances to evaporate.
After we finished our lab, we took a short quiz together with our lab group on things that we have learned recently. Tomorrow, Mr. Paek will try to find the "weakest link" in each group, and ask that person to explain how we got our answers.