Diffusion Lab Report

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ABSTRACT

The effect of molecular weight to the rate of diffusion of some substances was determined using two experiments that require glass tube and petri dish of agar-water gel with three wells. In the first experiment, two cottons were soaked in hydrochloric acid (HCl) and ammonium hydroxide (NH_4OH), respectively and were placed at the both ends of a glass tube simultaneously. The second experiment involved three wells filled with a drop of potassium permanganate (KMnO_4), potassium dichromate (K_2 Cr_2 O_7), and methylene blue, respectively. At a regular three-minute interval starting from zero minute to thirty minutes, the diameter (mm) of the colored area of the three substances was observed and recorded. The partial rates of diffusion …show more content…

Molar mass of any substance is the mass (in grams) of 1 mol of the substance and is acquired by adding the masses of the component atoms (Zumadhal, 2000).
Examples of some molar mass of known substances are one mole of ethylene has a mass of 28.0g, one mole of hydrochloric acid has a mass of 36.5g and one mole of sodium chloride has a mass of 58.5g (McMurry and Fay, 2004).
Diffusion and effusion rates are dependent on the speed of the molecules of substances. The slower the molecules move, the slower the chances of escaping a hole (in terms of effusion). At the same temperature, those molecules with higher molar mass have faster rate of diffusion (Atkins and Beran, 1992).
This study, conducted at Room C-127 of the Institute of Biological Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Banos, aimed to determine the effect of molecular weight to the rate of diffusion of some substances using a petri dish of agar-water gel with three wells. The specific objectives were

to determine the effect of the molecular weight to the distance covered by the substances at a given intervals of time;
to present the gathered data using tables and graphs; …show more content…

The first experiment was done by using the substances hydrochloric acid (HCl) which has a molecular weight of 36.46 g/mole and ammonium hydroxide (NH_4OH) which has a molecular weight of 35. 04 g/mole. Using the first data acquired, it can be observed that ammonium hydroxide has more distance traveled than hydrochloric acid because of its smaller molecular weight.
The second experiment was done by using the substances potassium permanganate (KMnO_4), potassium dichromate (K_2 Cr_2 O_7), and methylene blue having a partial diffusion rates of 0.36 mm/min, 0.33 mm/min and 0.33 mm/min, respectively which means potassium permanganate which has a molecular weight of 158 g/mole, has covered more in terms of diameter than potassium dichromate and methylene blue which have a larger molecular weight.
After series of experiments and gathering and interpreting data, the results agree with the hypothesis: If the molecular weight is smaller, then the diffusion rate is faster.

LITERATURE CITED
Bayquen, A.V. 2013. Chemistry: Exploring Life through Science. 2nd ed. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House. p.

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