fas Posted October 10, 2003 Posted October 10, 2003 I have a problem that i can't solve myself, so i am thrusting it on all others---- There are a mixed a number of kerosene and water barrels left outside a workshed. You cannot see inside the barrels, nor can you move them... Is there any way of telling which barrels contain kereosene and which contain water?
fas Posted October 10, 2003 Author Posted October 10, 2003 good thinking, but will it satisfy my chem teacher?.........
YT2095 Posted October 10, 2003 Posted October 10, 2003 I have no idea, if he/she will be happy? but that`s what I`de do and the teacher never said you couldn`t touch or open them alternatives would be: 1) wait until winter and freezes, the barrels that split had water in. 2) flood the area, the ones that float have the kerosene in 3) tap the barrels, the higher pitched sounding one will be the water, it`s more dense there`s plenty other ways to tell also
aman Posted October 10, 2003 Posted October 10, 2003 I woulda asked Spock to point his tri-corder and tell me but I have to agree, YT got an A cus off the top of my head I only scored one out of his three answers. Just aman
VendingMenace Posted October 10, 2003 Posted October 10, 2003 yeah, or you could just pick them up (or if they are large, weigh them). If the barrels are see-through, you could find how much the difract light. i really like the freeze experiment that yt had, that one is cool.
YT2095 Posted October 10, 2003 Posted October 10, 2003 sadly, part of the question was that you`re not allowed to pick them up though weighing them (if all the same barrels would be the easiest of all other than knocking them and listening to the sound) more fun would be to dip a shoe lace into each and see which one burns OR..... set fire to the lot, the ones that keep trying to burn are the Kerosene, the ones that keep trying to put the fire out is the water but that`s just sick
Dudde Posted October 10, 2003 Posted October 10, 2003 I believe YT's third answer should satisfy your teacher the other two are just not school material you could also find the owner of the barrels, and offer him/her a drink from each
wolfson Posted November 16, 2003 Posted November 16, 2003 Or if your loaded take a SPPC infa-red Spectrometer fire it at the chosen barrel and it will give you a digital reading of anionic/cationic ect surfactents... or just say the barrels were labelled LMAO
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now