By Scott Brevda

The Importance of This Project

Both of these quotes where being tested in my

experiment “Agitation tends to break up the

dried surface crust on sludge exposed to air, thereby also serving to speed the evaporation of water.” (Lue-Huing, p. 401)

“This process is called creaming - the oil droplets will gradually form a dense layer at the top of the sample. An emulsion is therefore described as unstable with respect to creaming (creaming is just upside down sedimentation). “ http://www.ifr.ac.uk/Materials/fractures/emul-sions.html

This project entered one of chemistry’s realms, by testing the relationship between oil and water.

This research in important as, with new discoveries

into the relationship between water and oil, we will be better equipped to

handle oil spills, separating oil and water,

treating sewage and taking care of the Earth.

MethodologyExperiment One Take 5 beakers and add 200ml of water to them.

Of the 5 beakers, take 4 and add respectively 5ml,10ml, 15ml, and 20ml of motor oil. This will create 5 samples - one control , and 4 samples with varying amounts of oil. Take all five beakers and place them on 5 different heaters, let them sit for 1 hour while taking measurements of how much water has evaporated (ml), at the 5 min., 10min., 20min., 30min., 40min., 50min., and 60 min. marks.

　Experiment Two Create 5 samples one control with no oil, and 4

samples with varying amounts of oil – same as above. Set them all aside in a place that is not exposed to any elements (wind, rain, excessive sun) that might change the results of the sample. Take measurement of how much water remains (ml) every day until the end of the experiment.

Experiment Three Take one beaker and add 200ml of water to it.

Then add 10 ml of oil. Set it in the same type of spot as in experiment two. However, this time add the fish tank air pump to the beaker. Take measurement every day of how much water has evaporated (ml) until the end of the experiment.

Charts and Qualitative Observations

Experiment One: Evaporation Experiment Two: Boiling (25 min @ 100⁰c)

Amount of Oil Amount of Water Amount of Oil Amount of Water

After Evaporation After Boiling

Sample One: 0ml 150ml Sample One: 0ml 152ml

Sample Two: 5ml 173ml Sample Two: 5ml 166ml

Sample Three: 10ml 187ml Sample Three: 10ml 174ml

Sample Four: 15ml 197ml Sample Four: 15ml 182ml

Sample Five: 20ml 199ml Sample Five: 20ml 190ml

Experiment Three: Evaporation with Agitation One important factor, as displayed on these charts

(Only used 10ml of oil sample) is that it took 7 days for the pure evaporation

Number Amount of Water sample (10ml) to lose approx. 113ml as compared

of Days After Agitation to only 3 days with the addition of agitation and

Day 1 196ml about 22 minutes with boiling. Thus proving that

Day2 no measurment * when oil n on top of water, the evaporation

Day3 184ml process is retarded. This is an important fact

Day 4 no measurement ** to consider in process waster water, sewage or

Day 5 no measurement ** oil spills.

Day 6 169ml Day 7 162ml

* No Classes

** Weekend

Charts and Results

Charts, Results, and Conclusions

Conclusions:1. The oil does act as

a seal preventing the water from escaping.

2. Agitation of the oil does allow for evaporation, as well as causing an emulsion.

Bibliography

Municipal Sewage Sludge Management: A Reference Text on Processing, Utilization, and Disposal By Cecil Lue-Hing Edition: 2, illustrated Published by CRC Press, 1998

Yielding and Fracture in Particle GelsThe Institute of Food Researchhttp://www.ifr.ac.uk/Materials/fractures/emulsions.html