Effect of Colour of Light on

Rate of Evaporation
Chemistry Investigatory Project

Dipra Bhattacharya
11206, 11 – B
Contents

 Acknowledgement
 Introduction
 Data Collection
 Experiment
 Hypothesis
 Observations
 Calculations
 Result
 Citations
Acknowledgement:

I would like to thank my Chemistry teacher, Mrs. Anitha

Krishnan, for providing me with valuable advice and assistance
to me throughout the course of my project

I would like to thank my principal, Mrs. Bhavani Baskar, for

providing me with the opportunity and necessary facilities for
this project.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their valuable

support.
Introduction:

The lack of use for incandescent lights due to the prominence

of LEDs and CFLs has resulted in many people and companies
wondering what to do with the old incandescent lights. This has
resulted in many new innovative uses, such as using the heat
released in order to dry clothes, or drying wet surfaces quicker.

The usage of incandescent lights in this manner needs to be as

efficient as possible, and that is when I thought about the effect
of the colour of the light on the rate of evaporation. How
significantly would a change in the colour of the light affect the
rate of evaporation?
Data Collection:

The rate of evaporation depends upon the surface area of the

liquid, the heat of vaporisation of the liquid, and the energy
provided by the light or source.

Usually, the energy generated by a lightbulb is based on its

potential difference, current and time for which it is turned on.

E=W
E = V*q
E = V*I*t
E = P*t

The energy required for a substance to evaporate at a given

temperature and pressure is constant. This would mean that,
for a given potential difference and power, the time taken the
evaporate the liquid would be a constant.

However, the colour of incandescent is due to the outer glass

being covered, rather than a direct change in the energy output.
The glass absorbs some frequencies of light and the rest
passes through.

This means that the energy of the energy emitted by the light
bulb isn’t equal to the electrical energy provided to it, and the
energy emitted by a light bulb does depend on its colour.

This means that the energy produced by the light source

depends on the frequency of the specific colour of light
E = h*v*n
E = amount of energy
v = frequency of light
h = Planck’s constant
n = number of photons
Thus, we can assume that light of higher frequency, such as
violet or blue light, will cause the ethanol to evaporate faster
due to higher energy output.

However, light bulbs of a certain colour may also emit different

frequencies other than just their own colour. Thus, a
spectrometer needs to be used to see the frequencies of light
emitted by the bulbs, and calculate the average frequencies.
Based on this, we can predict which light evaporates ethanol
the fastest.

The energy absorbed by ethanol to vaporise does not just

depend on power and time, but also the power efficiency of
each bulb, η, and the percentage of energy absorbed by the
surroundings, k.
E = (η*P*tavg*k)/100

The energy absorbed by ethanol to vaporise will be a constant

under the same conditions, so E is the same for all the bulbs.
The values that do vary are tavg and efficiency.

Power is a constant as the potential difference and current are

the same for all the bulbs. tavg changes due to a change in
efficiency.

Efficiency changes due to a change in energy absorbed by

outer covering of each light. k is a constant as the setup is
painted black, and absorbs the same percentage of energy in
every case. Thus, the time taken for ethanol to vaporise solely
depends on the colour of the light.

This also means that we can equate the energy of each light,
with tavg and η as the non-equal variables, and thus find the
power efficiency of each light.
The time taken for each light to vaporise one mole of ethanol
can be calculated as
tmolar = (tavg*M) / (ϱ*V)
M = Molar mass of ethanol
ϱ = Density of ethanol = 0.789 gcm-3
V = volume of ethanol

If the lights emit only their own colours’ frequencies, then the
energy absorbed by the surroundings is based on the
frequencies of the light alone and can be calculated. If it is a
combination of multiple frequencies, then the same cannot be
done, as it depends on intensity of each frequency.
Experiment:

This experiment was done in order to find the effect of different

colours of incandescent lights on the rate of evaporation of
ethanol.

Each light’s spectrum was checked in a spectrometer, and the

energy produced by each light was approximated, in order to
predict which light causes evaporation the fastest.

The experimental setup consisted of incandescent pigmy bulbs

of five different colours: white, green, blue, red and yellow. A
small box was painted black on the inside and white on the
outside in order to maximise the effect of the incandescent
lights and minimise that of external lights and sources of heat.

0.5 ml of ethanol was put on the bottom of the box. A hole was
put in the top of the box, and the light was inserted through
here.
The lights were of 220 volts, and 10 watts, and thus were
connected to a direct line. Ten readings were taken without any
light (control), and then ten readings were taken for each
coloured light bulb. The apparatus was left alone for 5 minutes
after taking each reading, so as to allow the heat from the
previous light to be released.
Hypothesis

Since the energy dissipated by the lights depend solely on their

spectra, I hypothesise that the blue light will evaporate light
fastest, then green, white, yellow and then red. The energy of
vaporisation can be subsequently calculated.

However, if the spectra contain different colours, then the

energy of vaporisation cannot be calculated

Observation:

The efficiency of the clear light is known, η = 0.1

The spectra of the lights were observed in the spectrometer.

The spectra of the lights were as follows:

Red Light: Violet, Orange and Red

Green Light: Blue and Green
Blue Light: Green, Blue and Violet
Clear Light: Visible Spectrum

Test No. Time Taken to Evaporate (mins)

Control Red Green Blue Clear
Light Light Light Light
1 15:01 5:07 4:19 4:00 4:36

2 14:48 5:01 4:18 4:09 4:33

3 15:21 5:08 4:22 3:56 4:28

4 15:02 5:04 4:21 3:52 4:39

 5 15:00 5:11 4:25 3:54 4:36
6 14:50 4:54 4:17 4:04 4:35
7 14:52 5:01 4:28 4:01 4:37

8 15:01 5:03 4:20 3:59 4:33

9 15:01 4:56 4:19 3:59 4:30

10 15:04 5:00 4:14 3:58 4:40

Average 15:00 5:03 4:20 3:59 4:35

It was observed that the red light took the longest to vaporise
ethanol, with an average time of 5 minutes and 3 seconds. The
clear light took second longest, which on average took 4
minutes and 35 seconds to vaporise ethanol. Green was
second fastest with 4 minutes and 20 seconds, and blue the
fastest with 3 minutes and 59 seconds.
Calculations

1. Energy required to Vaporise 0.5ml of ethanol

E = (η*P*tavg*k)/100
P = 10w, tavg = 276 seconds

E = 0.1*10*276*k*0.01
= 2.76k Joules

2. Energy required to vaporise 1 mole of ethanol

tmole = (tavg*M)/(ϱ*V)
= (276*46)/(0.789*0.5)
= 276*166.6 = 32181.6 seconds = 536 minutes
= 8.9 hours

E = (η*P*tmole*k)/100
E = 0.01*32181.6*k = 321.8k Joules

3. η of each light
Red Light:
E = (η*P*tavg*k)/100 = 2.76k Joules
(η*10*303)/100 = 2.76
η = 2.76/30.3 = 0.091

Green Light:
E = (η*P*tavg*k)/100 = 2.76k Joules
(η*10*260)/100 = 2.76
η = 2.76/26 = 0.106

Blue Light:
E = (η*P*tavg*k)/100 = 2.76k Joules
(η*10*239)/100 = 2.76
η = 2.76/23.9 = 0.115
Result:

Time taken by each light to Vaporise 0.5 ml of Ethanol:

Clear Light: 4 minutes and 35 seconds
Red Light: 5 minutes and 3 seconds
Green Light: 4 minutes and 20 seconds
Blue Light: 3 minutes and 59 seconds

Efficiency of each light:

Clear Light: 10%
Red Light: 9.1%
Green Light: 10.6%
Blue Light: 11.5%

Energy required to Vaporise 0.5 ml of Ethanol = 2.76k J

Energy required to Vaporise 1 mole of Ethanol = 321.8k J

Gallery:
Citations:

 Shapley, P. (2013). Light and the Electromagnetic

Spectrum. Retrieved from
http://butane.chem.uiuc.edu/pshapley/GenChem2/A3/3.ht
ml
 Barnes, J. (2018, April 20). How an Incandescent Light
Bulb Works. Retrieved from
https://www.lampsplus.com/ideas-and-advice/how-an-
incandescent-light-bulb-works/
 Ethanol. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/ethanol#secti
on=Top
 Whitaker, T. (2005, May 10). Fact or Fiction – LEDs don't
produce heat. Retrieved from
https://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2005/05/fact-or-
fiction-leds-don-t-produce-heat.html
 Incandescent Light Bulb. (2014, October 06). Retrieved
from
https://www.mepits.com/tutorial/221/electrical/incandescen
t-light-bulb