Superheated Liquids
With care it is possible to superheat a liquid beyond the temperature at which it would normally vaporize. A superheated liquid phase at a temperature above its boiling point is in a metastable state. If the superheated liquid is heated further, it will eventually reach a temperature, called the liquid spinodal temperature, Ts, at which point the liquid becomes mechanically unstable and will explosively vaporize. In this experiment you will measure the spinodal temperature at close to ambient pressure for several liquids and compare your result with both theoretical values calculated from equations of state and other experimental and/or theoretical values taken from the literature (1). A detailed description of this experiment can be found in the MS Word document Superheated Liquids.
Safety
Their are some potential hazards associated with the nichrome wire heater and with the toxicity of the liquids studied.
References
The Thermodynamic and Kinetic Limit of Superheat of a Liquid, Eberhart, J. G., Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 56(2): 262 (1976).
2.