Vapor Pressure Research Paper

Although they may be oddly shaped, volumetric and Erlenmeyer flasks are closed-end air columns, and they abide by the conventional rules of resonance. When a rubber stopper is inserted into a flask some air is forced out of the flask, and the stopper seals the flask so the air cannot get back in. This creates an area of low pressure within the flask. When the stopper is quickly pulled out of the flask, the air rushes back into the flask because the pressure of the atmosphere is higher than the pressure inside the flask. If the stopper is pulled out with sufficient force and swiftness, a “popping” sound is produced that corresponds to the resonant frequency of the air column inside the flask (Henderson, n.d.). This sound is a longitudinal standing wave, or a wave that, if it were visible, would appear to remain stationary inside the air column rather than traveling down its length like a typical wave (Henderson, n.d.).
Because the air at the closed end of the air column is stationary, the standing …show more content…
Essentially, vapor pressure is a measure of the position of this equilibrium. Higher vapor pressures mean that the equilibrium is farther to the right, and lower vapor pressures mean that the equilibrium is farther to the left. All of these properties are measured at standard atmospheric pressure. All chemicals have some amount of vapor pressure, although some chemicals have low or almost negligible vapor pressure, while others have high vapor pressure. The causes of vapor pressure are not particularly important for this experiment, so we will not discuss them at length, but in general, liquids with stronger intermolecular forces have lower vapor pressure, while liquids with weaker intermolecular forces have higher vapor pressure (Zumdahl & Zumdahl,