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Molecular Weight And The Concentration Of Diffusion Rate

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After completion of the three exercises of this experiment, all parts of the original hypothesis were supported by the data. With the first hypotheses, the expected outcome was that potassium permanganate, KMnO4, would travel further through the agar plate in comparison to methylene blue, C16H18N3SCl. According to the scatterplot 1.1, after the KMnO4 crystal was placed on one side of the agar plate and thirty minutes had elapsed, the substance had traveled a distance of 3.0 mm (or 1.0 mm/min). On the other hand, after thirty minutes of being on the opposite end of the agar plate, methylene blue had traveled a distance of 1 mm (or .033 mm/min). When comparing these two diffusion rates (mm/min), it is evident that, as foretold in the hypotheses, potassium permanganate achieved a more rapid rate than methylene blue. This can be explained through the comparison of the two compounds’ molecular weight and the weights’ affect of diffusion rate. As previously discussed, particle size has a negative correlation with diffusion rate (Usenko 2016). As KMnO4 has a molecular weight of 157.996 amu and methylene blue being 319.953 amu, it would then be reasonable for potassium permanganate to have this evidently higher diffusion rate due to its smaller molecular size in comparison to methylene blue. With the second part of the hypothesis, it was expected that the only color change to occur would be within the tube and no color change would occur in the surrounding water. This was then

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