KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING

BASIC MEASUREMENTS

GROUP 5A
9TH MAY, 2022

LIST OF GROUP MEMBERS

NAME INDEX NUMBER SIGNATURE

MACCARTHY COMFORT SIKA 8369119

AMOANYI JOYCELIN AKUWA 8365619

AZU AZARIAH JONATHAN 8367319

MENSAH COLLINS 8369519

ADJEI JUSTINA AMOAKOA 3657518

1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
AIMS/OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................. 3

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 4

CHEMICALS AND APPARATUS....................................................................................... 5

CHEMICALS ..................................................................................................................... 5

APPARATUS .................................................................................................................... 5

PROCEDURE ........................................................................................................................ 6

TABLE OF RESULTS .......................................................................................................... 7

DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................ 8

POSTLAB .............................................................................................................................. 9

PRECAUTION .................................................................................................................... 11

ERROR ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................ 12

CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 13

REFERENCES..................................................................................................................... 14

2
 AIMS/OBJECTIVES
1. To determine how the density of ethanol-water mixture varies at a constant temperature.
2. To determine how the density of water-ethanol mixture varies at different temperatures.
3. To determine the density of water at different temperatures.

3
 INTRODUCTION
Matter has mass and volume. Mass is a measure of the amount of material an object has and
is usually given in grams (g) or kilograms (kg). Volume is defined as the amount of space
an object occupies and is usually expressed as the unit liters (L), meters cubed (m3), and
gallons (gal). Density is defined as the ratio of the mass of an object to the volume it
occupies. Different materials can have different densities and density can be used to identify
a substance.

Density is an intensive property, meaning it does not depend on the size of the object. A
1 mL sample of water, for example, has the same density as 1 gal of water. Mass and
volume are extensive physical properties of matter, and vary with the size of the sample.

In this experiment, the “Archimedes Principle” is employed to determine the density using
the method of buoyancy. Buoyancy is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the
weight of a partially or fully immersed object. The principle states that a body immersed
partially or fully in fluid experiences a buoyant force acting upwards on it, the magnitude of
this force is equivalent to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body.

4
 CHEMICALS AND APPARATUS
CHEMICALS
Ethanol

Water

APPARATUS
Wash bottle

Glass sinker

Density determination kit

Immersion basket

Thermometer

Water bath

Volumetric flask

Analytical balance

5
 PROCEDURE
Distilled water was filled into the container and heated until the temperature is constant. The
temperature was read on thermometer. Next was calling up weighing mode on the analytical
balance. It was then tared to zero the reading. The glass sinker was suspended in air. The
weight of the drop shaft in air was displayed. After seeing the stability display (→), we then
confirmed by pressing the tare button. Water container was placed on the platform and the
glass sinker was immersed. After stability display (→), the balance displays the difference
(weight in air – weight in water). The value without sign was noted and the volume of the
glass. The value (without sign) was noted and the volume of the glass sinker was calculated.
If the volume of the glass sinker had been determined, this value remains stored in the
balance until it would be overwritten. In the subsequent measurements; there was a mixture
of ethanol and water at different volume to determine their density using the same procedure
described.

6
 TABLE OF RESULTS
Temperature=15 ℃

Ethanol-water, % Density, g/cm3

0 0.9991
5 0.9903
10 0.9830
15 0.9767
20 0.9707
25 0.9642
30 0.9568
35 0.9483
40 0.9388
45 0.9285

GRAPH

Graph of density against ethanol-water composition

1.01

0.99

0.98
Density, g/cm^3

0.97

0.96

0.95

0.94

0.93

0.92
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Enthanol Volume, %

7
 DISCUSSION
It can be inferred from the graph that as the temperature remains constant i.e. 15 ℃ and the
amount of Ethanol increases, the density of water also keeps decreasing gradually from
1g/cm3 downwards. Showing that as the amount of Ethanol keeps increasing, the more
impure the water becomes therefore leading to the decrease in density of the water.

8
 POSTLAB
1. The traditional method for determining the density of liquid was to determine the volume
of the liquid and dividing it by the mass of the liquid volume taken after weighing using
a measuring cylinder, a volumetric flask, a pipette and a burette

2. Data;

Mass(M) = 25.9863g ± 0.0003g

Volume(V) = 20.5ml ± 0.2ml

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠
Density(ρ) = 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒

Density = 𝜌 ± ∆𝜌

ρ= = 1.2676 g/mL
Calculating ∆ρ;

∆ρ = 0.0124 g/mL

∴ the density, 𝜌 ± ∆𝜌 is 1.2676 g/mL ± 0.1253g/mL

3. The anomalous expansion of water is an abnormal property of water whereby it expands

instead of contracting when the temperature goes from 4oC to 0oC, and it becomes less
dense. The density is maximum at 4 degree centigrade and decreases below that
temperature as shown in the graph below

9
10
 PRECAUTION
1. The balance door was closed while weighing the object to prevent air currents from
affecting the readings.
2. It was ensured that the analytical balance was always calibrated and tarred before taking
a reading.

11
 ERROR ANALYSIS
1. The surrounding temperature affected the density measured
2. Fluctuation in reading from the analytical balance

12
 CONCLUSION
It was found that the density of the ethanol-water mixture decreased as more ethanol was
added to the water to obtain the ethanol-water mixture. This shows that density is highly
affected by impurities i.e. the higher the impurity (ethanol) the lower the density of the
distilled water or substance

13
 REFERENCES
Bernard Silver, (1990),’Density Estimation for Statistics and Data Analysis’ prime edition,
McGraw Hill publication, page 21.

E.H. Higham and W. Boyes, (2001), ‘Measurement of Density’ 5th Edition, New York Page
67 – 68.

Luc Devroye and Herman J, (2004) ‘Course in density estimation’ 7th edition, LUC books,
page 49.

N. Sukumar, (2012), ‘A matter of density’ prime edition, John Wiley and Sons publication,
Page 98.

Takao Tsuneda, (2016), ‘Density functional theory in quantum physics’ 2nd edition, Springer
Science Ltd. (New Jersey), Page 78.

14