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Convection in a Continuously Stratified Fluid

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Richard M. Heavers

Department of Chemistry and Physics, Roger Williams University, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol, RI 02809-2921

J. Chem. Educ., 1997, 74 (8), p 965

DOI: 10.1021/ed074p965

Publication Date (Web): August 1, 1997

Section:

History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

This paper begins by commemorating Count Rumford's observations of convection in 1797. Rumford investigated the effects of stewed apples, eiderdown, and other fibrous materials on retarding vertical circulation in liquids. In contrast to Count Rumford's historic experiments, the present paper describes a simple, visually instructive, physical chemistry experiment for demonstrating how a mathematical model can be applied to free convection in a vertically stratified salt solution. In the first part of the experiment, a linear salt concentration profile is created in a beaker of water at room temperature. The salt concentration (and density) is greatest at the bottom of the liquid. When the beaker containing the salt solution is then heated on a hot plate, a well defined convecting bottom layer forms almost immediately. The measured rate of growth in thickness of this convecting layer is compared to that predicted from a model based on density differences. The temperature of the liquid above the bottom convecting layer remains close to its initial value, illustrating that heat from the hot plate is confined to the bottom layer by the salt (density) stratification.

Keywords (Audience):

Upper-Division Undergraduate

Keywords (Domain):

Demonstrations

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Hands-On Learning / Manipulatives

Keywords (Subject):

Laboratory Equipment / Apparatus

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This article has been cited by 1 ACS Journal articles (1 most recent appear below).

Modern Developments in the Physical Chemistry Laboratory
Samuel A. Abrash
2007 973 (), 115-151
- Modern Developments in the Physical Chemistry Laboratory
  Samuel A. Abrash
  2007 973 (), 115-151
  Developments in the physical chemistry laboratory since the publication of the germinal text by Schwenz and Moore (1) are categorized and reviewed. The categories examined include modern instrumentation, current topics in chemistry, integrated ...
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