Lecture 7: surface chemistry Flashcards
What is an interface?
An interface is where one phase meets another without miscibility
What is the phase that is always miscible with itself?
Gas
What creates surface tension?
- Molecules within the bulk of a liquid are subject ed to equal attractive forces in all directions
- The molecules at the liquid air interface experience unbalanced attractive forces
- There is a net inward force towards the bulk
- This force pulls the molecules of the interface together, resulting in interface tension
What is surface tension?
The force per unit length that must be applied parallel to the surface so as to counterbalance the net inward pull of the molecules at the bulk.
What is interfacial tension?
The force per unit length that exists between two immiscible liquid phases
Do stronger intermolecular forces lead to higher or lower surface tension?
Higher
For which molecules is the surface tension equal to the London dispersion force contributions to the surface tension and why?
Non polar molecules because London dispersion forces are the only attractive forces
What are the factors affecting surface tension?
- Temperature
- Salts
- Alcohol
How does temperature affect surface tension?
- Increasing temperature decreases the surface tension
- Surface tension is a measure of the energy needed to move a molecule from the bulk to the surface, so as temperature increases, the energy needed decreases since the intermolecular forces weaken
How does an increase in salt concentration affect surface tension?
- An increase in concentration of salts in an aqueous solution leads to an increase in surface tension
- Ion water interactions are much stronger than water water interactions
- For this reason salt ions remain in the bulk because it takes a lot of energy to get them to the surface
- Since they are in the bulk, the interactions between the water molecules get stronger, leading to an increase in surface tension.
Does the valency of salts affect the magnitude by which the surface tension of the solution is changed?
Yes
divalent and trivalent salts increase surface tension to a greater extent than monovalent salts
How does the concentration of alcohol in a solution affect its surface tension?
- Increasing the concentration of alcohol in a solution results in a decrease in the surface tension
- Alcohol molecules adsorb at the surface, and as the concentration increases, the water water interactions are replaced by weaker alcohol-alcohol interactions, and so the surface tension decreases
How does the hydrophobicity of an alcohol affect the extent to which it changes the surface tension?
- The mode hydrophobic (longer hydrocarbon chain) an alcohol is the more it lowers the surface tension
- Hydrophobic alcohols have a greater tendency to adsorb at the air water interface and disrupt the water water interactions
What are the 2 methods used to measure surface and interfacial tension?
- Capillary rise method (surface tension only)
- DuNouy ring method
How do you measure surface tension from the capillary rise method?
- Place a capillary tube into a liquid in a beaker.
- The liquid will rise in the tube to a height that is related to the surface tension of the liquid
How do you measure surface tension from the DuNouy Ring method?
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What is work of cohesion?
The work needed to pull apart a volume of spreading liquid that has a unit cross sectional area
What is work of adhesion?
Work needed to separate two immiscible liquids that form an interface with a unit cross sectional area.
How do you calculate work of adhesion and cohesion?
Wc = 2 x surface tension
Wa = surface tension of liquid 1 + surface tension of liquid 2 - interfacial tension between the 2 liquids