Liquid Levitation
How will water salinity affect the Leidenfrost Effect?
What is the Leidenfrost Effect?
The Leidenfrost Effect is an occurrence that happens when a surface is heated to extreme temperatures. Water is dropped on the heated surface, and because of the high temperature, a part of the water droplet immediately vaporizes, holding up the rest of it.
My Hypothesis
If there is salt in the water when attempting to create the Leidenfrost Effect, then it will not work.
Experiment Procedures
1. Gather four cups and fill them with one cup of water each.
2. Label the cups "A", "A2", "B", and "B2".
3. Inn cups A and A2, the water will be left alone, and will not be tampered with. In cups B and B2, dissolve one tablespoon of normal table salt into each.
4. Heat a heating plate to the boiling point of water (212 degrees Fahrenheit) and begin the experiment.
5. Using and eye dropper, gather 10 ml of the liquid of cup A and then proceed to drop one ml on the heated plate. Then record if it evaporated or formed a bubble. Continue until all of the water in the eyedropper is gone.
6. Continue with step five for cup A2, B, and B2.
Conclusion
The salinity of water does have an affect on the Leidenfrost Effect. My results showed that on average, three out of the ten trials for salt water formed a bubble and did not evaporate. For the regular water, 3/4 of the droplets formed a bubble.