Question

Enter your answer in the provided box. In water conservation, chemists spread a thin film of certain inert materials over the surface of water to cut down on the rate of evaporation of water in reservoirs. This technique was pioneered by Benjamin Franklin three centuries ago. Franklin found that 0.10 mL of oil could spread over the surface of water of about 32.0 m2 in area. Assuming that oil forms a monolayer (that is, a layer that is only one molecule thick) estimate the length of each oil molecule in nanometers. Assume that oil molecules are roughly cubic. (1 nm = 1 × 10−9 m)

Answer 1

≅3.2 nm

Step-by-step explanation:

Using the converter units as know for this case that:

1 ml is 1 cubic centimeter ⇒ 0.1 ml is 0.1 cubic centimeters

32.0 m² so :

32.0 m² *100 *100 cm² ⇒ 0.1 / ( 32.0 * 100 *100 ) = 100,000,000 * 0.1 / (32.0 * 100 * 100 ) nm

v = 100/32.0 nm = 3.125 nm thick.

v ≅3.2 nm

As oil is one molecule thick and the molecules are cubic, length of each oil is 3.2 nm