A Capillary Flow Analogy
- Page ID
- 2964
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Chemical Concepts Demonstrated
- Order of a reaction, first-order kinetics
Demonstration
Capillary tubing is attached a buret filled with water and clamped in a horizontal position.
Use a stop watch and record time vs. volume measurements as the water flows out of the buret.
Observations
Plotting volume versus time yields a slightly curved line. Plotting the log of the volume versus the time yields a straight line.
Explanation
Because the log of the volume versus the time yields a straight line when plotted, the capillary flow appears to be first-order.
Contributors
- Dr. George Bodner (Perdue University)