Three identical tubes are filled with different liquids; water, e...

Question

Three identical tubes are filled with different liquids; water, ethylene glycol, and olive oil. A small steel sphere was dropped into the tube, and the time it took to fall to the bottom was recorded. <TABLE> Which property of liquids is responsible for the differences in time for the sphere to fall through the liquid? (LO 11.1)
(a) Surface tension
(b) Boiling point
(c) Viscosity
(d) Vapor pressure

Accepted Answer

Hello everyone today. We've been given the following problem. Three biggers are filled with water, ethanol and kerosene oil. A paperclip is carefully placed on top of each liquid. The paperclip stays on top of the water but sinks to the bottom and the other two liquids, which property of liquids is responsible for the observation described above. So our answer here is going to be surface tension and here's why So surface tension is an unbalanced force that acts upon liquid and to be more specific, it acts on a surface of a liquid. It forms a layer on top of any liquid and it holds objects of very variable masses. And so it just depends on how high the surface tension is. And so since these this paperclip was placed on top of each liquid, this is exhibiting the principle of surface tension, boiling point is not the right answer because boiling point is simply the temperature we're in, the vapor pressure of a liquid is equal to the atmospheric pressure, which is not being examined in this problem here. Viscosity is wrong because viscosity is just a measure of how thick a liquid is. So it just measures the thickness of liquids. Favorite pressure is not correct because vapor pressure is as its name implies, it's the pressure that's exerted by gasses. And this pressure that is exerted by gasses is exerted in the form of a liquid. And so now you know why answer. Choice. C is the correct answer. Overall. I hope this helped and until next time