ACS Chemistry Laboratory Supplement

Project-Based Labs

Alien World
Introduction
On Earth, water affects our daily lives in many ways. For example, water is responsible for
keeping the temperature of the Earth relatively stable. Water is also the standard against which
the physical properties of many fluids are measured. Our temperature scale (Celsius) is based on
the freezing and boiling temperatures of water, the density of water is 1 g/mL, and the heat
capacity is 1 cal/g.C. Science fiction writers often imagine other worlds with different chemistry
from that found on Earth. Suppose such a writer imagined a planet where the principal fluid on
the surface was a liquid other than water. How would life be affected on such a planet? Your task
is to predict the effects of changing the liquid on the surface of a planet. You will be provided
with an unknown liquid for investigation. Some of the properties you could evaluate (depending
on the liquid) are the density of the liquid, the density of the solid, freezing point, boiling point,
viscosity, and specific heat.

Project Tasks
Some of these tasks will be accomplished experimentally and some by library or web-based
research in appropriate resources.
1. Carry out initial tests to decide which physical properties can be experimentally
determined for your unknown liquid, given equipment available in the laboratory.
2. Devise methods to determine the selected physical properties of an unknown liquid.
3. Use appropriate resources to find additional data to help with identification.
4. Distinguish among different possibilities for identification of the liquid.

Learning and Performance Objectives

1. Realistically assess which tests can or cannot be performed.
2. Perform tests to determine physical properties.
3. Compare experimental data with handbook data, assessing limits of error.
4. Understand the relationship between structure and physical properties.
5. Understand the effect of physical properties of bulk liquids on the surroundings.
6. Use experimental results to solve the alien world mystery and identify the liquid.
7. Handle flammable liquids safely.

Resources Available
1. A strategy for determining density
2. A general approach for determining specific heat
3. A method for measuring boiling point

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Reports
1. Planning sheets are to be completed as directed by your instructor.
2. The final report for this project should follow the basic guidelines given previously.
Be sure to include:
a. observations and other results from all group experiments.
b. physical properties that you measured experimentally.
c. discussion of sources of error for experimental data.
d. physical properties that you looked up, including references.
e. identification of your unknown liquid, choosing from the list of possibilities
presented.
f. speculation about life on the Alien world if your unknown were the major liquid
on that world.
g. supporting reasons for your speculation, based on comparison of the properties
of water to those of your unknown liquid.
3. Be sure you support your decisions with data from the various aspects of the project,
including cost, safety, environmental impact, and cleaning effectiveness.

Materials Available: Chemicals

2-propanol, ethanol, ethylene glycol, acetone, dodecanol (or others suggested by your instructor)
Safety Information
You should assume that your alien liquid is flammable. It should be handled in a hood. There
should be no open flames in the lab during this project. Instead, use a hot plate with a water bath
or a sand bath to heat samples.
Any work with glass tubing using an open flame must be carried out in a separate laboratory or
in a well ventilated hood space, well away from flammable solvents.
Techniques You May Need
Weighing compounds
Use of volumetric glassware, including pipets
Heating and cooling baths

Resource: Determining Density

To find the density of a solid, a specific mass of the compound is taken. If it is a regular
solid, its volume can be calculated from its measurements. If the solid is insoluble and denser
than water, it can be placed into a known volume of water, and the displacement of the water
measured. The density of the solid is calculated using this relationship.
mass
density =
volume
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Project-Based Labs

The same equation can be used to calculate the density of a liquid by finding the mass of a
known volume of a liquid. Volumetric glassware should be used to determine the volume
accurately.
Resource: Determining Specific Heat
Place 20.0 mL of the sample liquid and 20.0 mL of distilled water in separate 50-mL beakers.
Place both beakers in a sand bath on a hotplate. Suspend a thermometer in each fluid to record
the starting temperature of the liquids. Take temperature readings at intervals for a period of at
least 10-15 minutes.
In each case, the difference in temperature for a given interval, T, can be calculated from
the data. The density of the sample liquid has already been determined, and can be used to
calculate the mass of liquid present. The density of water is known, and similarly can be used to
calculate the mass of water present, again using the relationship d = m/v.
The specific heat of water is known and can be used in this relationship to determine the heat
(enthalpy) for the experiment.
H = masswater specific heat water T
Because both the water and the sample were heated under the same conditions, H for the
distilled water will be the same as H for the sample liquid. Use the same equation,
H = masssample specific heatsample T , to determine the specific heat of the sample liquid.
Resource: Determining Boiling Point
Place a small amount of sample liquid in a capillary tube and attach it to a thermometer with
a small rubber band. Then place the thermometer and capillary tube in a water bath on a
hotplate. Heat the water bath, carefully noting the temperature at which the sample liquid boils.
With sample liquids having boiling points higher than that of water, the method just
described will not produce satisfactory results. In such cases, it will be necessary to use a larger
tube and a sand bath on a hot plate. The larger tube can be made from a piece of glass tubing. A
small piece of the tubing can be cut to be about the length of a capillary tube. One end is firepolished but left open. Rotate the other end of the in the hottest part of a flame until the end is
sealed. Safety note: Recall that open flames cannot be used while flammable solvents are in the
room. If you use this procedure, work with glass tubing in another lab or in a well functioning
hood. Once the tube is fashioned and cooled, add the sample liquid and attach to the thermometer
as before. Place the tube and thermometer in a large vial in a sand bath. Add heat and carefully
note the temperature at which the sample liquid boils.

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Alien World: Planning Sheet 1

To be completed before starting experimentation.

Project-Based Labs

Group Name

State the overall purposes of this project in your own words.

1. Draw the Lewis structure of water and its 3-dimensional structure, indicating H-to-O-to-H
bond angle. Discuss how waters structure affects properties such as melting point, boiling
point, specific heat, density, and viscosity.

2.

How does water affect the average temperature of the Earth?

3. Why does ice float on liquid water?

4. Before you begin any experimentation, you should make some preliminary observations of
your liquid. What type of observations can be made without the use of any measuring
devices?

5. Outline a procedure for measuring the boiling point of your liquid.

6. Outline a procedure for determining the density of your liquid. Plan how many
determinations you will make, and what equipment will be used to obtain the most accurate
results.

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Alien World: Reflection and Planning Sheet 2
To be completed after the first laboratory period.

Project-Based Labs
Group Name___________________

State the purposes of this weeks lab in your own words.

1. Give the results of your boiling point determinations. What do you consider the margin of
error in these determinations?

2. Show the calculations used and the results of your density determinations. What do you
consider the margin of error in these determinations?

3. How do your results for boiling point and density compare to those values for water?

4. Speculate on how these differences may affect the alien planet for which your sample is the
main liquid.

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5. Outline a procedure for determining the specific heat of your liquid. Plan how many
determinations you will make, and what equipment will be used to obtain the most accurate
results.

6. How might you determine the relative viscosity of your sample liquid?

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Alien World: Reflection and Planning Sheet 3
To be completed after the second laboratory period.

Project-Based Labs
Group Name___________________

State the purposes of this weeks lab in your own words.

1. Describe the experiments that you carried out today in lab.

2. Identify your alien liquid. Support your choice(s) with your experimental data and
appropriate resource information.

3.

Once you have identified your sample liquid based on information gathered so far, what
other properties of this compound can you find? Give references for sources of information.

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4. Now that you know most of the properties of your liquid briefly discuss how your alien
world would differ from Earth. What would be different and what would be the same?

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