Question

In a scenario where some water is splashed out of a container before adding ethanol, what impacts the resulting mixture?

a) Viscosity
b) Density
c) Surface tension
d) Conductivity

Answer 1

Replacing water with ethyl alcohol in a container will impact the resulting mixture's density, surface tension, viscosity, and conductivity, due to the different properties of ethanol compared to water.

Step-by-step explanation:

When water is poured out of a container and replaced with ethyl alcohol (density = 790 kg/m³), several properties of the resulting mixture can be affected, including viscosity, density, surface tension, and conductivity. When ethanol is introduced to water, density plays a significant role, since ethanol has a lower density than water, which may result in a lower overall density of the mixture. Surface tension is another property that can change upon mixing these two liquids; water has a high surface tension due to its strong hydrogen bonding, while the presence of ethanol, which has a lower surface tension, would decrease the surface tension of the mixture. The change in surface tension can also influence the viscosity of the liquid. Ethanol also affects the conductivity of water as it is less conductive than water and can reduce the mixture's overall conductivity.