Evaporation rate experiment

Evaporation rate experiment

In Topic, this week, we carried on with our science experiments about materials and their different states (liquid, solid or gas).

Today, we had a look at water and the effects of heat on liquids.

Earlier this week, we had carried out a simple but practical experiment with a kettle, and found out what happened to water when it's heated up: it boils, and liquid water turns into gas, which we can see as steam.

We also noticed that the water level was not the same after heating up the kettle: because of the heat, some of the water had evaporated.

Today, we took the experiment a bit further. After discussing the best way it should be conducted (involving fair tests and predictions), we mixed some water and salt together inside small aluminium cups, which we then heated up with a candle.

Our prediction was: because of evaporation, after a while, only salt should be left inside the cups.

Conclusion: the experiment was a success, and while all the water had evaporated, the salt was indeed still there.

Can you see the steam rising up from inside the cup?

If you want to see more pictures of the whole experiment, head over to our Flickr page!