Question

I have the following experimental set up:

Petri Dish 1: Water in the dish. I drop a solid crystal of potassium permanganate into the water.
Petri Dish 2: Agar gelatin in the dish. I drop a drop of liquid potassium permanganate onto the gelatin.
I also spray an air freshener into the air while another person at a fixed distance across from me counts seconds until they can smell the air freshener.
For the petri dishes, I record the time at which I drop the crystal and liquid potassium permanganate and record initial and final diameters of the spots of potassium permanganate a set time later.
Write a hypothesis about what you expect in the results in terms of speed of diffusion of these different particles. Why do you expect these results?

Answer 1

The hypothesis is that the potassium permanganate crystal will diffuse more slowly in Petri Dish 1 compared to the liquid potassium permanganate on the agar gelatin in Petri Dish 2 due to the difference in state (solid vs liquid) affecting the speed of diffusion.

Step-by-step explanation:

The hypothesis for the speed of diffusion of different particles in the experimental setup can be stated as follows:

Hypothesis: The potassium permanganate crystal in Petri Dish 1 will diffuse more slowly compared to the liquid potassium permanganate on the agar gelatin in Petri Dish 2.

This hypothesis is based on the fact that diffusion occurs faster in liquid than in solids. In Petri Dish 1, the potassium permanganate crystal needs to dissolve before it can start diffusing, which will slow down the overall diffusion process. In Petri Dish 2, the liquid potassium permanganate is already in a dissolved state, which allows for faster diffusion on the agar gelatin surface.