MM409

Tutorial Assignment 1

8/12/09

1. An air bubble of radius 1 10-6 m is generated in water with a syringe. The bubble is gently transferred to a solid hydrophobic surface. Calculate the contact angle. Is the volume of the bubble significantly changed upon adsorbing on the surface? Use water,vapor = 72, solid,water = 50, and solid,vapor = 20 mJ/m2. 2. Two liquids, A and B, phase separate when mixed into one phase consisting of 87.5% A and 12.5% B, and another of 12.5% A and 87.5% B. Use regular solution theory model to estimate the interfacial free energy. Assume the temperature to be T = 278 K, the interaction parameter, w = 6 KJ/mol, the area per molecule at the interface is 3 10-19 m2, and the coordination number in bulk is zb = 6. 3. The table shows the chemical potential of a fluorocarbon, C4F10, in a mixture with the corresponding hydrocarbon, C4F10. The pure liquid is used as a standard state and the chemical potential, , is expressed in terms of the activity, a = exp{( - 0)/RT} Mole fraction 0.90 0.80 0.70 0.60 0.50 0.40 Activity 0.91 0.86 0.81 0.77 0.75 0.72 Mole fraction 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.075 0.050 0.025 Activity 0.68 0.62 0.54 0.47 0.40 0.25

Obtain a fit of the data to the regular solution theory. What is the value of the interaction parameter? Estimate the change in the standard chemical potential if the reference state is chosen as infinite dilution in C4H10. (Note: In the equation, = 0 + RT log , the mole fraction, , serves the role of the activity, a.) 4. Water is transported from the root to the leaves in the canopy of a tree. The canopy is 25 meters above the root, what is the difference in osmotic pressure required to make the water flow spontaneously? What is the concentration difference of a molecular solute that produces such a difference in the osmotic pressure? Assume an ideal solution. 5. What is the critical drop size for nucleating liquid water at p = 1 atm, and (a) T = 99.99C, (b) T = 99C, and (c) T = 90C? Between 90 and 100C, the surface tension of water varies approximately linearly from 60.8 to 58.9 mJ/m2.