Riddle – Science Teaser
SOLVE THIS
Clumsy Vijay got himself into a ticklish situation. He had poured water into two bottles. One of them had ethanol in it while the other had some oil. Now he wanted to take the water out of them. Can you help him do that?…
SOLUTION
The solution to Vijay’s problem is rather simple. Oil and water do not mix. So it would be easy to separate them. All that he would have to do is to pour the liquid from that particular bottle into a separation funnel. If he now gives it some time the two immiscible liquids would separate with a clear demarcation line. He should now resort to the process of decantation. If he merely pours out oil in the top layer, the remaining liquid will be water. If he uses the separation funnel he can open the tap at the bottom and let water come out. On the other hand, ethanol which is an alcohol mixes with water so mere decantation will not help. He should employ the technique of fractional distillation. Fortunately for Vijay alcohol boils at a much lower temperature than water. So he can let alcohol evaporate at that temperature and then collect the remaining water
-Team ScienceNow
