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APSC 182-VL1

Lab 4: Vapor pressure of Volatile Components

Presented by: Austen Wang, Haiqing Lyu

Student number: 74916693, 76841519
Instructor: Prof. Vladan Prodanobvic

Data performed: Nov 22, 2023

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Abstract

The experiment's primary objective is to determine the relationship been the

temperature and vapor pressure following the addition of ethanol and methanol to

three distinct temperatures—ice water, room temperature, and hot water, respectively.

Vapor pressure (or equilibrium vapor pressure) is the pressure exerted by a vapor

in thermodynamic equilibrium with the condensed phases (solid or liquid) at a given

temperature in a closed system [1]. The experimental and published values for the

enthalpy of vaporization between ethanol, methanol, and water are shown in Table 1.

Table 2 lists the reported and experimental boiling points for these three materials.

Moreover, the experimental data displayed a significant divergence from the actual

data. Proposing that gas leakage and inaccurate temperature were the source of the

data's inaccuracies.

Results and discussion

To measure the relationship between the temperature of the material and its vapor

pressure, initiate the process by placing a stopper-sealed beaker and manipulating the

valve by opening and closing it. In each cycle after that, add methanol or ethanol and

shake it gently.

In Figure 1 below, plotting the images of ln(P) and 1/T, where P is the pressure and T

is the temperature. The reason for this is that directly graphing temperature versus

pressure would make their relationship seem unintuitive due to the use of the ln()
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function in formula 1 and the inverse of T, which is 1/T. If one were to graph the

relationship between In(P) and 1/T like this, the result would be a straight line with a

slope of -ΔHvap/R, which makes it very easy to visualize their relationship, as well as

to compare the magnitude of ΔHvap for three liquids of different substances. The

exact values are shown in figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Pressure with respect to temperature

Comparison of the established values of methanol and ethanol with the calculated

values of experimental ΔHvap is shown in Table 1, where it is clear that methanol has

the largest ΔHvap of 48.43 kJ/mol. Ethanol has the smallest ΔHvap of 26.97 kJ/mol

The ΔHvap of water is 43.88 kJ/mol. , where the experimental ΔHvap value of water is

extremely close to the established value, but the values of methanol and ethanol have a

large gap with the established value, where the ΔHvap value of methanol is larger than
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that of ethanol, which is not in accordance with the facts and produces a large error. As

for the reason, it may be that this experiment is difficult to operate, and it is easy to

produce gas leakage in the gas chamber during the experiment, which causes the

inaccuracy of the experimental data. As for the suggestions to improve the experiment,

in the future, more attention should be paid to the accuracy of the apparatus as well as

more precision in manual operation with more training.

Table 1: Enthalpy of three different materials

Literature value Experimental value

(𝒌𝑱 ∗ 𝒎𝒐𝒍−𝟏 ) (𝒌𝑱 ∗ 𝒎𝒐𝒍−𝟏 )

Methanol 35.21 [2] 48.43

Ethanol 42.4 [3] 26.97

Water 43.9 [2] 43.88

A comparison of the established values of methanol and ethanol with the calculated

experimental boiling points is presented in Table 2. It is evident that ethanol had a

higher enthalpy than methanol, with water having the greatest which follows the

arrangement of literal value. Nonetheless, the experiment's gathered enthalpy deviates

from the value reported in the literature, especially water that exhibited the greatest

divergence.

Table 2: Boiling points of three different materials

Literature value (K) Experimental value (K)

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Methanol 337.8 [4] 334.12

Ethanol 351.52 [4] 374.67

Water 373.15 [4] 795.49

There are numerous factors contributing to the inaccuracy of experimental enthalpy.

This can be seen by the formula (1) of it:

𝑝2 ∆𝐻𝑣𝑎𝑝 1 1
𝑙𝑛 ( ) = − ( − )
𝑝1 𝑅 𝑇2 𝑇1

P = the pressure at each temperature (Pa)

T = Temperature (K)

∆𝐻𝑣𝑎𝑝 = Enthalpy of vaporization (kJ ∗ mol−1 )

R = Universal gas constant

Given this equation, inaccurate values of k might be attributed to plenty of

combinations of the following aspects: inaccurate initial and final temperature, and

incorrect first and terminal pressure. Inaccurate temperature measurements might

have arisen due to the thermometer measurement error. Therefore, temperature may

not be the main error of enthalpy. Owing to the conclusion mentioned above, the

problem is most likely caused by inappropriate pressure. The pressure error may be

due to gas leakage. An untightened lid lets the gas escape from the flask, even if the

lid is tight enough, it will still have an unescapable gas leakage. The leakage will

make the final pressure extremely imprecise just like the water that has been

observed.
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In future experiments, this can be improved by double-checking the lid and holding it

during the whole experiment. Furthermore, multiple runs with different equipment

can also make the data more precise.

Conclusion
Overall, the main purpose of the experiment was to measure the enthalpy of

vaporization and boiling point of three different liquids as well as to verify the

practicality of formula 1. The experiment was conducted mainly by measuring their

vapor pressures in different temperature environments, that is, ice water, room

temperature and hot water, and then verifying the feasibility of the equation through

calculations. Vapor pressure (or equilibrium vapor pressure) is the pressure exerted by

a vapor in a closed system that is in thermodynamic equilibrium with a condensed

phase (solid or liquid) at a given temperature. In conclusion the results of the final

experiment were slightly off, where the measured values of the enthalpy of

vaporization of methanol and water were close to the actual values of 48.43

kj/mol, 43.88kj/mol respectively, and the enthalpy of vaporization of ethanol

produced a large error of 26.97kj/mol, which is less than the enthalpy of vaporization

of methanol and does not correspond to the facts. The experimental data showed a

significant deviation from the actual data, suggesting that gas leakage and temperature

inaccuracies may be the source of the data inaccuracy. One of the important reasons

for this is still because the formula of the experiment is more complicated, a slight

error in the measured value will produce a large calculation error, and there will

inevitably be manual measurement errors in the experimental process.

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References
[1] J. G. Speight, “Chemical and Physical Properties,” Elsevier eBooks, pp. 81–114,

Jan. 2018, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-804422-3.00003-1.

[2] 8.5: The Ideal Gas Standard State,” Chemistry LibreTexts, May 24, 2019.

https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbo

ok_Maps/Thermodynamics_and_Chemical_Equilibrium_(Ellgen)/08%3A_Enthalpy_

and_Thermochemical_Cycles/8.05%3A_The_Ideal_Gas_Standard_Stat

[3] Toppr, “Calculate the enthalpy of vaporization per mole ethanol- Given- -S-109-

8JK-1mol-1 and boiling point of ethanol is 78-5oC-, Toppr Ask, Jan. 09, 2020.

https://www.toppr.com/ask/question/calculate-the-enthalpy-of-vaporisation-per-mole-

for-ethanol-given

[4] Methanol | Properties, Production, Uses, & Poisoning | Britannica, Encyclopæ dia

Britannica. 2023. https://www.britannica.com/science/methanol

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