Journal of Chemical Education | 3b2 | ver.9 | 30/6/011 | 6:12 | Msc: ed-2010-008798 | TEID: dmr00 | BATID: 00000 | Pages: 1.

41

COMMUNICATION

pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc

1 A Simple Experiment To Measure the Content of Oxygen in the Air

2 Using Heated Steel Wool
3 Francisco Vera, Rodrigo Rivera,* and C
esar N
u~nez
4 Instituto de Física, Pontificia Universidad Cat

olica de Valparaíso, Avenida Universidad 330, Curauma, Valparaíso, Chile
5 bS Supporting Information
6 ABSTRACT: The typical experiment to measure the oxygen content in the
7 atmosphere uses the rusting of steel wool inside a closed volume of air. Two
8 key aspects of this experiment that make possible a successful measurement of
9 the content of oxygen in the air are the use of a closed atmosphere and the use
10 of a chemical reaction that involves the oxidation of a solid element into a
11 solid oxide. The oxygen for the chemical reaction is provided by the closed
12 volume of air, whose volume changes are easy to measure. In previous
13 versions of the steel wool experiment, several days were needed to complete
14 it; however, the experiment can be completed in about 30 min by cleaning the
15 steel wool using acetone and then washing it in acetic acid or vinegar. A new
16 simple closed-volume experiment to measure the oxygen content in the air is
17 described that can be completed in a few minutes. In this experiment, steel
18 wool is placed inside a glass tube that is connected with two normal glass syringes. The tube is then heated by a flame and the air in
19 the syringes is forced, by moving the syringes plungers, to pass through the heated steel wool. This experiment is an excellent
20 classroom illustration of the 21% of O2 in the atmosphere, and it can be used as a complement to the steel wool acetic
21 acid experiment.

22 KEYWORDS: Elementary/Middle School Science, First-Year Undergraduate/General, High School/Introductory Chemistry,

23 Environmental Chemistry, Laboratory Instruction, Physical Chemistry, Hands-On Learning/Manipulatives, Atmospheric
24 Chemistry, Descriptive Chemistry, Oxidation/Reduction

25
’ EXPERIMENT
26
27
28
I n a typical experiment to measure the oxygen content in air,
steel wool is placed inside an inverted test tube that is
immersed in a beaker with water.1,2 The steel reacts with the
The experimental setup to measure the oxygen content of air is
51

52
shown in Figure 1. Two 20 mL glass syringes were used to force 53 F1
29 oxygen in the air producing a solid oxide and decreasing the air air through steel wool that was heated to accelerate the reaction. 54
30 volume. To diminish the time needed to complete this experi- A small glass tube of about 2 mL in volume, which was obtained 55
31 ment from several days to 30 min, the steel wool is cleaned with from a dropper, was connected to the syringes using silicone 56
32 acetone and washed with acetic acid or vinegar. Changes in the hoses. The initial air volume was 29 mL (10 mL in the left syringe 57
33 volume of air are easy to measure in this experiment, and the and 15 mL in the right syringe as measured from the syringe 58
34 obtained change in volume is close to the expected 21%. readings and 4 mL in the tube and hoses as measured using a 59
35 In a related experiment,3,4 a thin copper-wire mesh is placed pipet). Fine steel wool, 0.28 g, was placed inside the small glass 60
36 inside a silica tube connected to two gas syringes. The tube is tube. This tube was connected using two silicone hoses to the 61
37 heated by a flame and the air in the syringes is forced to pass vertical syringes, which included a small volume of colored water 62
38 through the heated copper by moving the syringe plungers. (about 5 mL) to prevent air bubbling out of the syringes and for 63
39 However, in our experience, it was not possible to obtain good an easier visualization of the water level. The connections were 64
40 results using a fine cooper-wire mesh, a result that is also reported secured using wire clamps. The experiment was started by 65
41 by Griffiths.5 heating the glass tube containing the steel wool using an alcohol 66
42 A new low-cost experiment that uses normal glass syringes Bunsen burner (a high-temperature flame can easily melt the 67

43 instead of the more expensive gas syringes was developed. The glass tube; the use of a quartz tube instead of a glass tube is 68

44 syringes where put in a vertical configuration instead of the recommended). It was observed that initially the volume in- 69

45 typical horizontal arrangement,3,4 and a small volume of water creases because of the thermal expansion of the air. The syringe 70

46 was placed inside each syringe to prevent bubbling. Data can be plungers were moved to force the oxygen through the steel wool, 71

gathered in a couple of minutes. This experiment is an excellent thus, causing the steel wool to react with the oxygen, producing 72
47
48 classroom illustration of the 21% of O2 in the atmosphere, and it
49 can be used as a complement to the steel wool acetic acid
50 experiment.

Copyright r XXXX American Chemical Society and

Division of Chemical Education, Inc. A dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed1008798 | J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, 000–000
 Journal of Chemical Education COMMUNICATION

Figure 1. Experimental setup using two glass syringes and an alcohol

Bunsen burner to heat the steel wool.

73 additional heat. It can be seen in the video (available in the

74 Supporting Information)6 that the central part of the steel wool
75 turns to a red color that advances against the flux of air. After a
76 few seconds, the volume began to decrease, showing that the
77 oxygen in the air was being converted into solid iron oxide. After
78 making sure that all the air in the syringes was forced to pass
79 through the hot steel wool, and after no signs of further change in
80 the air volume, the Bunsen burner was removed and the system
81 allowed to reach ambient temperature. The left syringe was
82 placed in the position it had at the beginning of the experiment so
83 that the final air volume could be read using the position of the
84 right syringe. The final volume was 20.7% smaller than the initial
85 volume.

86 ’ ASSOCIATED CONTENT
87 bS Supporting Information
88 Video of the experiment to measure the oxygen content of air.
89 This material is available via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

90 ’ AUTHOR INFORMATION
91 Corresponding Author
92 *E-mail: rodrigo.rivera@ucv.cl.

93 ’ ACKNOWLEDGMENT
94 We would like to acknowledge financial support from FON-
95 DEF Project TE10I012, FONDECYT Project 1110713 and from
96 DGIP-PUCV.

97 ’ REFERENCES
98 (1) Gordon, J.; Chancey, K. J. Chem. Educ. 2005, 82, 286–287.
99 (2) JCE staff J. Chem. Educ., 2001, 78, 512A.
100 (3) GCSE Science Chemistry High School Home Page. http://
101 www.gcsescience.com/w10-air-oxygen.htm (accessed Jun 2011).
102 (4) Sauerstoffgehalt der Luft, Versuch 59. http://netexperimente.
103 de/chemie/59.html (accessed Jun 2011).
104 (5) Griffiths, T. TES Magazine, Dec 31, 1999; available at http://
105 www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=305082 (accessed Jun 2011).
106 (6) Analisis de Movimiento. http://laplace.ucv.cl/TrackMovingObjects/
107 Gallery/Oxygen_in_Air/movimiento.html (accessed Jun 2011).

B dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed1008798 |J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, 000–000