Chemistry IA Proposal

Ren
16.02.2023

Research Question:
How does the percentage of alcohol in an oil paint thinner affect the performance?

Background Information:
Turpentine is a fluid obtained from coniferous trees, mainly pine trees, through the distillation of
harvested resin. It is a hydrocarbon with the chemical formula C10H16. It is composed of mainly
terpene hydrocarbons and other oxygenated terpenes, though the percentages vary depending on
the production and the source of the product. Currently, turpentine oil is largely used in the
chemical industry as raw material in the synthesis of insecticides, oil additives, and synthetic
pine oil and camphor. (“Turpentine | Definition, Uses, & Facts”) In the painting industry, it is
often used as a thinner for oil painting.

Wood turpentine also contains methyl alcohol in the form often used by painters in oil painting.
A lot of other different types of oil paint thinners also contain methyl or isopropyl alcohol, which
got me thinking about the effect the alcohol has on the quality/performance of the paint thinners
when put to use. Isopropyl alcohol itself can clean off a layer of oil paint, but I was unable to
find any resources on how the alcohol percentage in paint thinners might affect the performance
of the thinner, nor any resources on the effects of adding isopropyl alcohol in turpentine within a
mixture, hence why I am quite interested in this topic.

Materials:
- Isopropyl alcohol
- Turpentine (I already have this)
- Oil paint of any color
- 5, 10, 15 ml pipettes
- 10 ml graduated cylinder
- 50 ml beaker
- spectrometer

Method:
1. Measure out 10cm3 of turpentine and 5cm3 of oil paint
2. Mix the turpentine and paint together until its a thin mixture
3. Measure out the isopropyl alcohol using the pipette
4. Mix the alcohol with the thinned paint
5. Measure the resulting wavelength using the spectrometer
6. Repeat from step 1, increasing the volume of alcohol each time