Lab Report: The Tea Bags

IntroductionThe aim of this lab is to find out what will happen when 2 tea bags are put in separate beakers. One of the beakers contains cold water while the other one hot water.

Hypothesis

The cold water-beaker:The tea bag will sink and diffuse when it is put in the beaker. Although it will take longer time before it reaches the bottom than if it would have been hot water. The whole diffusion process will also occurr slower because of the cold water collected in the beaker.

The hot water-beaker:The tea bag will start the diffusion as soon as it has been put in the beaker. It will sink faster than the ”cold water-beaker” because the heat in the water makes the whole process speed up.

Materials

2 Tea bags 2 Beakers with 200ml of water in each Teakettle

Methods

First of all 200ml of water was collected and put in the teakettle. Another 200ml of water was taken, only this time it was poured into a beaker standing on a table. The at the time hot water in the teakettle was put in a beaker as well, next to the other one already on the table.Both of the teabags were put in the water at the same time. The hot water-beaker’s tea bag started to diffuse immediatly as it reached the water. Within a couple of seconds it had already reached the bottom. As the water turned brown, a fruity smell emitted from the beaker. The tea bag in the cold water-beaker did not sink or diffuse immediatly as it hit the water. Instead the bag was laying on the surface for a little while before it slowly sank towards the bottom. The color of the water was still very transparent and a smell was not detected.

Result

The best way shown due to this lab to make a cup of tea is to use hot water since it is proven to expedite the diffusion process of the content of a tea bag.

Conclusion

The reason why the diffusion process occurred faster in the beaker with warmer water is because the cold water-beaker is together with the tea bag content a

homeogenic mixture while the mixture of hot water in the beaker is heterogenic, which means that it is even warmer in the bottom of it because it is located closer to the glass whereas the top is closer to the air which makes it colder. That is also the explaination to why the mixture of the content of the tea bag and water in the beaker is darker in the bottom, the content ”want” to be where it is warmer.

Evolution

The instrucions that were given were all followed except for one part. They did not include picking up the beakers to smell them which was done during the lab. Due to this error the mixtures had even colors and were not darker in the bottom as they were suppose to. The use of the teakettle made the experiment faster and more efficient than if hot water would have been taken.

The way the beakers were suppose to look like after 10-15 minutes.

The way the beakers looked after the lab.