Tyndall Effect Lab

Aiden Surman and Jacob Swidorsky

Miss Miller

April 4, 2018
 Research

John Tyndall was an Irish physicist who “studied the diffusion of light by large molecules

and dust” (Barton). This occurrence is known as the Tyndall Effect. He was “an outstanding

experimenter, particularly in atmospheric physics” (Barton). Tyndall performed some

experiments that showed how the sun’s ray were dispersed in all directions due to particles in the

air. He was the first person to ever study this subject thoroughly.

The Tyndall Effect tests how well light is scattered among the particles of a mixture. The

theory specifically tests if a mixture is colloidal. If something is colloidal, that means the

substance has a certain thickness of its particles that reflects light. Depending on this thickness, it

can show a light passing through or dispersing in all directions. A colloidal substance

specifically disperses a light. This theory is not just used in labs, but in everyday life. For

example, the light we see when using fog lights is undergoing the Tyndall Effect. The water

droplets in the fog disperse and scatter light, making it visible. Overall, the Tyndall Effect tests

how colloidal a substance is.

Question

Which substance, milk, flour, or sugar, is the most colloidal?

Hypothesis

Light is reflective off particles. Flour is a powdery substance and its particles are thick

when mixed with water. We believe the solution that is the most colloidal is the water with flour.

Materials List

1. Two 500 mL beakers

2. Laser pointer

3. Tap water
 4. At least 12.5g of Milk

5. At least 12.5g of Flour

6. At least 10g of Sugar

7. Stir Rod

8. Two textbooks

9. Tape

10. Rectangular tissue box

11. Weigh boat

12. Electronic scale

13. Ruler

Procedure

1. Stack two textbooks on top of each other on a table approximately two inches high

2. Place the laser pointer on top of the textbooks and secure it in place with tape

3. Place a rectangular tissue box at the end of the table facing the laser pointer. Make sure

the box is tall so the beam of light will be visible on one of its faces.

4. Fill a 500mL beaker with 400mL of water

5. With a stirring rod mix 10g of sugar into this beaker of water

6. Fill a second 500mL beaker with just 400mL of water

7. Place beaker with water behind beaker with the mixture of sugar and water

8. Turn on the laser pointer

9. Record observations and move the laser pointer left and right slightly and precisely each

time and record the distance it moves left and right. Preciseness is key to make sure that

the data is as accurate as possible

 10. Repeat steps 1-9 with 10g, 2g, and 0.5g of milk

11. Repeat steps 1-9 with 10g, 2g, and 0.5g of flour

Data

Table 1: Observations

Grams:
10g 2g 0.5g
Sugar When the laser is Not tested Not tested
moved in one
direction, it is
reflected in the
opposite direction.
The laser is visible in
both beakers and is
thicker in the beaker
with water and sugar
than the beaker with
just water.
Milk The laser does not The observations The laser passes
pass through the remain the same as through and is only
beaker. the 10g of milk visible in the beaker
The laser is reflected with water and milk
Substances: backwards towards
the laser pointer and
the laser becomes a
large blurb rather
than a defined circle
The light is dispersed
in all directions

Flour The observations The observations The laser passes

remain the same as remain the same as through and
the 10g of milk the 10g of flour vertically stretches
the light. The light is
faintly visible in the
beaker with water
and flour.
It vividly disperses
the light more than
the milk does.

Table 2: Calculations
 Grams:
10g 2g 0.5g
Sugar The light is bent 1 Not tested. Not tested.
inch in each direction
when the laser pointer
is moved from left to
right.
Milk The laser did not pass The laser did not The light is bent 0.5
through the beaker pass through the inches in each
Substances: with water and 10g of beaker with water direction when the
milk and 2g of milk laser pointer is
moved from left to
right.
Flour The laser did not pass The laser did not The light is bent 0.75
through the beaker pass through the inches in each
with water and 10g of beaker with water direction when the
flour and 2g of flour laser pointer is
moved from left to
right.

Analysis

When testing the substances, the 10g and 2g of flour and milk mixtures were too thick to

allow the light to pass through. When we tested 0.5 grams of the flour and the milk, we were able

to see that the flour mixture bent the light 0.75 inches in each direction and the milk mixture bent

the light 0.5 inches in each direction. The flour mixture dispersed the light the most, and the milk

mixture also dispersed the light, but not as much as the flour mixture. The light easily passed

through the 10g of sugar mixture which means that sugar is the least colloidal substance. The

light was bent 1 inch in each direction when moving the laser pointer from left to right, but the

light was not dispersed. The data does support our hypothesis that flour is the most colloidal

substance because the flour dispersed the light the most out of each of the substances. One

source of error that may have affected our results was the way we measured the amount of bend

in the light. When measuring the amount of bend, the laser pointer was moved by hand on a

swivel. Tape was keeping the laser pointer stationary and could have become less elastic, thus
changing the measured distance. In the future, a more precise and accurate material could be

used instead of tape. There could have been a better material holding the laser pointer down

while still constraining it to move a certain length left or right.

Conclusion

In this lab, we determined which substance, flour, milk, or sugar, was the most colloidal.

We mixed each substance with water and tried many different masses of each substance except

for sugar. When shining the laser through the beaker, we were able to gather our results and

came upon a clear answer to our question. Based on our data our hypothesis is proven to be true,

flour is the most colloidal substance when being compared to sugar and milk. The flour dispersed

the light from the laser by stretching it vertically when it passed through. It succeeded in

dispersing the light the most compared to the other two substances.

Works Cited

Barton, Ruth. “John Tyndall.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 11

Jan. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/John-Tyndall.

“Definition of Tyndall Effect.” ICoachMath, www.icoachmath.com/chemistry/definition-of-

tyndall-effect.html.

Mody, Bella. “Tyndall Effect.” Chemistry LibreTexts , 6 June 2016,

chem.libretexts.org/Core/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry/Physical_Properties_of_Matt

er/Solutions_and_Mixtures/Colloid/Tyndall_Effect.