Assignment/Tutorial1

CH2040MechanicalOperations
DepartmentofChemicalEngineering
IITMadras

1. Dynamic light scattering technique is a powerful technique to measure the size of colloids. In a typical
experiment,scatteredintensityismeasuredwiththehelpofadetector,whichisgenerallyaphotomultiplier
tube as a function of time. Scattered intensity versus time data obtained through such measurements is
expressedintermsofautocorrelationfunctionthroughSiegertrelationwrittenas

WhereC(s,td)istheautocorrelationfunction,isaninstrumentconstant,andg1(s,td)foramonodisperse
sphericalcolloidisrelatedthediffusioncoefficientoftheparticle,andisgivenby

In order to exploit the capabilities of scattering methods, a PhD student in a protein engineering lab has
performeddynamiclightscatteringmeasurementsondilutesolutionsofenzymesandthedataobtainedhas
beentabulatedinTable1.

Assumethattheenzymeisroughlysphericalandthattheinstrumentconstantisunity.Determine
thehydrodynamicradiusRHoftheenzyme.GiventhatthepartialmolarvolumeVoftheenzymeis
0.74103(m3/kg)andmolecularweight,Mis4.78102(kg/mol),determinethedryradiusRDfor
theenzyme.CanthedifferencebetweenRHandRDbeattributedtotheboundwaterontheenzyme?
Theviscosityofwaterat293Kmaybetakenas0.001kg/m.s.

Thefollowingrelationsmaybeuseful:
and

whereNA=6.02214151023istheAvogadrosnumber

andkBistheBoltzmannsconstantis1.38065031023m2kgs2K1

Table1:DLSdatageneratedinproteinengineeringlaboratory

s2td1010(m2s)

0.4

0.8

1.2

1.6

2.0

2.4

2.8

3.2

3.6

4.0

5.0

10.0

g2(s,td)

1.75

1.60

1.47

1.38

1.30

1.24

1.12

1.15

1.12

1.09

1.05

1.00

2.AHypotheticalDistributionof400sphericalparticlesareclassifiedintotwelveclassesaslistedbelow.
Fromdataofthistable,determine(a)numberaveragediameter.(b)surfaceaveragediameter.And(c)
volumeaveragediameter.
ClassClass

NumberofFractionofTotalnumber

Boundariesmarkdiparticlestotalnumberwithd<di
<d<(m)(m)

niinclassfn,int,i

00.10.05

0.018

0.10.2

0.15

15

0.038

22

0.20.3

0.25

18

0.045

40

0.30.4

0.35

28

0.070

68

0.40.5

0.45

32

0.080

100

0.50.6

0.55

70

0.175

170

0.60.7

0.65

65

0.163

235

0.70.8

0.75

59

0.148

294

0.80.9

0.85

45

0.113

339

0.91.0

0.95

38

0.095

377

1.01.1

1.05

19

0.048

396

1.11.2

1.15

0.010

400

3. Calculate the equivalent volume sphere diameter xv and the surfacevolume equivalent sphere
diameterxssvofacuboidsparticleofsidelength1,2,4mm.

4.Agroupofstudentinamechanicaloperationslabestimatedtheterminalsettlingvelocityoflimestone
(p = 2,800 kg/m3) falling in water at 30 0C. In a typical experiment, limestone particle is dropped in a
cylindricalcolumncontainingwater,andastopwatchisusedtomeasurethetimerequiredtotraverse
certain distance h. Finally, they found ut is 0.014 m/s (approx.). Calculate the average diameter of
limestone.

5.Two spheres made of Fe and Cu respectively are dropped into a column of glycerol (= 1.26 g/cc) 5m high
and reach the bottom of the column at the same time. Find out the ratio of their radii.

6. Niobium a chemical element used in various super conducting alloys has an atomic radius of 0.143nm ((=
0.87 g/cc). Determine whether it has an FCC or a BCC crystal structure. (Note: Atomic weight of Niobium is
92.9amu & length of side of a unit cell is 21.5R).

7. A Copper sphere of radius 1cm is dropped in a vertical column of water 10 m deep. Find the time take by the
sphere to reach the bottom of the column. State the assumptions made in the calculation.

8. Cu exists in an FCC crystal structure and the radius of each Cu atom is 0.128 nm. Calculate the
theoreticaldensityofCuandcompareitwiththeactualvalue.

Figure:FCCunitcell

9.Acolumnofwater(ofheight50cm),astopwatchandanellipsoidofmajoraxisAandminoraxisBis
given to a set of students to perform an experiment to determine the size of the object and the aspect
ratio.Assumetheellipsoidtobemadeofglassdensityof2.0g/cc.Experimentsareperformedat25C.
How many experiments have to be performed to determine the size (minimum number)? Derive
expressionsthatneedtobeusedtoobtainsizeoftheellipsoidobject.

10. The following is the sieve analysis data obtained for Calcite (initial feed size =1850 microns,
Sphericity = 0.78 & Density=1.9 g/cc) after ball milling the same for 2 minutes. Calculate the specific
surfaceareaofcalcitefromthebelowdata

Sieve
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
Total

SieveSize(microns)
2800
1400
710
355
106
bottom

Weight
Retained(gm)
59.4
59.6
21.2
14.2
21.8
16.8
193