Effects of Changing the Composition of Fresh Water

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Effects of Changing the Composition of Fresh Water

Lieshia Sousa 09/26/11 Chemistry Honors

Effects of Changing the Composition of Fresh Water

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One may wonder how a substance so abundant, covering approximately two thirds of our planet, reacts to certain changes, this being the case in the area of composition. One may recall a time when they were in the kitchen boiling something for dinner and they added salt to the water so that it would boil faster, while this may be true in theory it is not practical in practice. Digressing to the global compass of water, about ninety percent of earths water supply is salt water, so you can see how this theory might affect humankind. The proposal is that salt as an additive to a fresh water sample has little to no effect, but a difference in composition vastly changes the heating dynamic of the water.

Materials needed for this procedure are as listed: One large pots Sugar Electric range Four gallons of water Salt Timer Thermometer

Alternate materials: Two different sized zip-lock bags Milk

Effects of Changing the Composition of Fresh Water Salt (preferably rock salt) Ice

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For the procedure a control must first be set, so after acquiring access to all of the supplies evaluate the area and set a control. For this experiment the control is leaving on gallon of the fresh water undiluted, so set aside one gallon of fresh water. Once the control is set and listed prepare your test subjects, in the case of the Effects of Changing the Composition of Fresh Water three test solutions were created to test range and temperature difference. The first solution created was a twenty percent salt eight percent water compound equivalent to one gallon, the second test subject was a fifty percent salt fifty percent water compound equivalent to one gallon, and to test the affects of alternate substances the thirds compound was comprised of fifty percent water and fifty percent sugar in an amount equivalent to one gallon. After all compounds were set for testing the staging area was cleaned and prepped and each of the substances was heated and tested for time to boil and temperature individually, as to make sure each was on the same burner to eliminate discrepancies in the results. All the readings were than calculated and read to better understand how the chemical make up of water affects its boiling point. Data To compile data on the experiment I first found the results for the control based on a one-gallon scale. After the control field was finished I mathematically deciphered projections for the other three test subjects. To do so I set up a proportional ratio putting the boiling point increase in Celsius into a percentage of time. For the first test - twenty percent salt I set a proportion of the percentage of salt to the

Effects of Changing the Composition of Fresh Water

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original degree of the boiling point equating to twenty over one hundred or one fifth, and that would be the time subtracted The second test fifty percent salt fifty percent water using the same formula fifty over one hundred was equal to half the time For the final test fifty percent sugar I took an educated guess based on the results of the salt and my theory that sugar would slow the boiling process rather than speed it up
Time Control (Fresh Water) 17 minutes 14 seconds Projections Twenty Percent Salt Fifty Percent Salt Fifty Percent Sugar 14 minutes 10 seconds 9 minutes 1 second 26 minutes 15 seconds Actual Twenty Percent Salt Fifty Percent Salt Fifty Percent Sugar 14 minutes 53 seconds 8 minutes 57 seconds 22 minutes 13 seconds 139 degrees Celsius 202 degrees Celsius 66 degrees Celsius 140 degrees Celsius 200 degrees Celsius 50 degrees Celsius Temperature 100 degrees Celsius

The results slightly differ from mathematic projections due to possible human error, I the case of the salt, because the knowledge of the temperature increase per percentage and the time it took for the first pot of undiluted water will give you precise values based on mathematical law. As for the sugar, it was evaluated based on an unproven theory, so the differences are expected.

Effects of Changing the Composition of Fresh Water

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Based upon the test we can see the inherent effects of changing the composition of water, as a side note you can run the same tests with any water soluble materials, and because each element, compound or material has a different boiling point you will obtain different results. Salt increases the boiling point and decreases the time because it speeds up the process of reaching the higher temperature, like putting nitrous through your car engine, although less drastic, where sugar does exactly the opposite because its pf levels absorb heat requiring longer exposure to concentrated energy, like using solar energy. The results clearly depict the changes salt and sugar have on altering the speed at with they reach their boiling point and what the actual boiling point is. I did find it very interesting that the higher the boiling point the shorter the time and vice versa. We all know that the boiling point of fresh water is one hundred degrees Celsius, but a misconception is that adding salt to a water solution makes it boil faster. Sodium has a very low boiling point at almost zero, so in theory adding it to water should lower the boiling point right? No, if you add a tablespoon of salt to a pure water solution of one gallon you will still have one gallon of water and the change will be so minuet it will be immeasurable, however salt can drastically effect the boiling point of water. The way in witch this must occur is by altering the composition so that you have a solution, which is a certain percentage water and a certain percentage sodium carbonate. Each one percent of water changed to one percent sodium carbonate effect the boiling point by two degrees Celsius, thus leading to more rapid boiling the greater the presence of sodium carbonate. This means that if you have a solution of fifty percent water fifty percent salt the solution will boil approximately twice as quickly as fresh water and will only have to reach a temperature about half as high. Other elements will also affect the process heating water

Effects of Changing the Composition of Fresh Water

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based upon the amount of the compound in the solution and the boiling point of the compound. Alternately you can conduct a freezing point analysis experiment on water, a common one being the process of making ice cream. For this you can use two plastic bags, ice, salt, and milk. The experiment demonstrates, in an inverse fashion, the same outcome. By placing milk in a small plastic bag and both that smaller bag, ice and salt in a larger bag, the salt lowers the freezing point of the ice, thus freezing the milk. This is used in real world application such as clearing roadways in the northern parts of America, by placing rock salt on ash fault covered in ice and snow, theoretically the salt is supposed to aid in rapidly defrosting the road, because the snow or ice should then require colder temperatures to maintain its frozen state. Intern, by using both experiments you can demonstrate how different particles effect transitions of matter in water from one stage to another. If you conduct the ice cream experiment to find the freezing point, from a basal standpoint your results should read: No salt: you will have to continually maintain a fresh ice supply to maintain a constant temperature of zero or below zero Celsius to create ice cream With salt: pending on the percentage of salt used you can determine the time it will take to freeze you ice cream using the inverse to the formula listed above (to calculate percentage you will need to first find the volume of the water before frozen and form the ratio with that proportional to the volume of salt) With sugar: you should find it impossible to freeze the ice cream with sugar in the ice because it will absorb the heat and melt the ice rather quickly

Effects of Changing the Composition of Fresh Water

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Through the testing process data has been compiled in favor of the hypothesis, demonstrating the basal compositional aspects of a solution. In regards to water we can conclude that minuet measures of sodium carbonate used as an additive have no apparent effect on the boiling point or speed of water, but that sodium carbonate in medial to large percentages used in compound with water changes the boiling point at a ratio of four degrees Fahrenheit to each one percent increase of sodium carbonate. Also demonstrated and concluded upon is that any substance with a different boiling point than water, if added to a solution of water, would effect the boiling point, either raising or lowering by a certain measure of degrees that can be set up to a proportional ratio. Now knowing that this, we know that salt does not change the properties of water, but instead together they change the temperature of the waters boiling point from a basic standpoint. With the ever looming threat of global warming, now known as the politically correct term, climate change, many wonder about the safety of the natural progression of our planet. Many feel the pouring copious amounts of pollutants into our air and water is harmful to the ozone and speeding up the process of altering the climate. Although many believe these wild claims being past around, in no way are they true, not to say pollution is not bad, but realistically, as compared to the proceeding case you can see the small changes small percentages can do. The planet is on a natural course, because every so many centuries the planet must go in cycles, from cold to hot and hot to cold, thus altering the climate and face of the earth. Although the pollutants do not have as a direct effect as rapidly changing the climate they do affect us more subtly, as we can see the subtle effects of changing the composition of the water in our previous experiments. So when you use gas in your car or hairspray you may not be tearing a whole through the

Effects of Changing the Composition of Fresh Water

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ozone leading us all to cease to exist due to radiation from the sun and the polar ice caps melting, but all the pollutants in the air and water effect the soil our plants grow in, the water our fish swim in, and indirectly effect any animal that consumes the plants or water, whether it be cows or humans. Humanity as a society needs to face this epidemic plaguing our global community head on, we as one united civilization need to grasp the reigns and steer the world back onto a clean path for a more prosperous tomorrow.

Effects of Changing the Composition of Fresh Water Works Cited

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I dont know if you would like to create a works cited, I used no outside sources, I just used general knowledge and test I remember running in high school, but for suggestions, I would use the school text book, both chemistry and earth science, the local weather channel or The Weather Channels website, and if there is a general website the school encourages use on I would use them as citations too. I feel she needs a large amount of help with her research and writing abilities, because there were no aspects of her paper or notes I found salvageable, and the sentence structure and compositions was not on a high school level.