Mr.

Wilkinson / Chemistry 11
Volume of Mixtures Lab

Purpose
To determine whether volume is conserved in various mixing procedures.
To see the effect of molecular polarity on mixing behaviour.
To see the effect of particle size and shape on mixing behaviour.

Theoretical Background
1

Matter is mostly empty space.

The reason why the floor beneath our feet feels solid is that the electrons in the top level of atoms in the
floor repel the electrons in the bottom level of atoms in our shoes.

This repulsion between electrons is also the reason that solids and liquids have a fixed volume: the
particles in a sample of water or iron can only get so close to each other before they start strongly
repelling each other.


1
Image Credit: Randall Munroe, xkcd.com
Mr. Wilkinson / Chemistry 11
That means the particles behave a lot like the plastic balls in this play pit. It makes sense to talk about
the volume of the balls all together, because (as long as no one deforms one on purpose) they will
occupy the same amount of space no matter how much they move around. Two balls are not going to
suddenly squish together and occupy the same space.

If you filled a play pen with superballs (those tiny, ridiculously bouncy things), they would behave
similarly. The only difference is that the superballs are much smaller than the plastic balls. So a
collection of superballs also has a consistent volume.

What would happen if you took a play-pit full of plastic balls and an equally sized playpit full of
superballs. If you mixed all the balls together, could you fill a playpit with twice the volume? Or would
the smaller balls fill in the gaps between the bigger balls?



Outline of Procedure
You will be using graduated cylinders and test tubes to mix samples of water with a variety of different
substances. In each test, you will carefully record the volumes of the two substances to be mixed.

(For unpowdered solids, you will also calculate the samples volume based on its density). No
significant chemical reactions will occur in any of your experiments.

In each trial, pour the water into the container holding the other substance. Safety note: if working with
dangerous liquids like strong acid or methanol, you should add the dangerous liquid to the water. But
all the substances we are using today are relatively harmless.

The amounts Ive provided you with are approximate. You are responsible for measuring the volumes
of your samples to the best precision possible with the tools you have.

The percent of volume conserved can be calculated with the following formula:

conserved
volume of mixture
total volume before mixing


If volume is totally conserved, the % conserved will be 100%. If you mix the two samples together and
they suddenly disappear, the % conserved will be 0%. Note that, in every chemical and physical
reaction, the % of mass conserved is always 100%. Will that be true for volume as well?





Mr. Wilkinson / Chemistry 11

Observations and Data

Experiment 1: water and water
Mix about 20 mL of water with about 20 mL of water. Determine the volume of both samples to the
closest 0.01 mL

by using graduated cylinders. You may do the mixing in one of the graduated cylinders
if you wish.

Hypothesis (make sure you have read the theoretical background):
I predict the % of volume conserved will be about _____% because



Sample 1
Volume
(water)
Sample 2
Volume
(water)
Total volume
before mixing
Volume of
mixture
% of volume
conserved

my group
another group
a third group
Average


Experiment 2: water and oil
Mix about 20 mL of oil with about 20 mL of water. Determine the volume of both samples to the closest
0.01 mL

by using graduated cylinders .You may do the mixing in one of the graduated cylinders.

Hypothesis (make sure you have read the theoretical background):
I predict the % of volume conserved will be about _____% because



Sample 1
Volume
(water)
Sample 2
Volume
(oil)
Total volume
before mixing
Volume of
mixture
% of volume
conserved

my group
another group
a third group
Average

Experiment 3: water and ethanol
Mr. Wilkinson / Chemistry 11
Mix about 20 mL of water with about 20 mL of ethanol. Determine the volume of both samples to the
closest 0.01 mL

by using graduated cylinders; you may do the mixing in one of the graduated cylinders
if you wish.

Hypothesis (make sure you have read the theoretical background):
I predict the % of volume conserved will be about _____% because




Sample 1
Volume
(water)
Sample 2
Volume
(ethanol)
Total volume
before mixing
Volume of
mixture
% of volume
conserved

my group
another group
a third group
Average


Explain what is happening at the molecular level that made your % of volume conserved different than
the value in experiment 1.



Mr. Wilkinson / Chemistry 11

Experiment 4: water and powdered aluminum
Mix about 20 mL of water with about 20 mL of aluminum. Determine the volume of the samples to the
closest 0.01 mL

with graduated cylinder. Note: this experiment is a bit different than the others because
there are air-pockets (not just empty space) between the tiny aluminum crystals.

Hypothesis (make sure you have read the theoretical background):
I predict the % of volume conserved will be about _____% because



Sample 1
Volume
(water)
Sample 2
Volume
(aluminum)
Total volume
before mixing
Volume of
mixture
% of volume
conserved

my group
another group
a third group
Average


Experiment 5: water and sodium chloride
Mix about 20 mL of water with about 1 mL of sodium chloride. Determine the volume of the sodium
chloride to the closest 0.01 mL

with a dry graduated cylinder. There are air pockets between the grains
of salt. But that is not ALL thats going on here!

Hypothesis (make sure you have read the theoretical background):
I predict the % of volume conserved will be about _____% because



Sample 1
Volume
(water)
Sample 2
Volume
(NaCl)
Total volume
before mixing
Volume of
mixture
% of volume
conserved

my group
another group
a third group
Average




Mr. Wilkinson / Chemistry 11
Experiment 6: water and MORE sodium chloride
Mix about 20 mL of water with about 15 mL of sodium chloride. Determine the volume of the sodium
chloride to the closest 0.01 mL

with a dry graduated cylinder. There are air pockets between the grains
of salt. But that is not ALL thats going on here!

Hypothesis (make sure you have read the theoretical background):
I predict the % of volume conserved will be about _____% because



Sample 1
Volume
(water)
Sample 2
Volume
(NaCl)
Total volume
before mixing
Volume of
mixture
% of volume
conserved

my group
another group
a third group
Average


Conclusion
When will volume be conserved in a mixture? When will volume not be conserved? Use molecular-
level diagrams to explain your answer.
Mr. Wilkinson / Chemistry 11