Research Project
The next thing to try was adjusting the temperature gradient. The reason for this was to see if the increased heat would cause the alcohol to evaporate quicker and in turn saturate the air more. In order to do this a heating mat was built using a simple circuit of resistors
There were difficulties involved since the mat was not in good thermal contact with the chamber and though the resistors were evenly spaced, there would still be variations in temperature across the surface. Also the mat seemed unable to get any hotter than 44°C; this was likely due to the extreme cold at the bottom of the chamber keeping the system cool.
Though the setup with the heated mat worked, it made no improvement and took much longer to prepare.
Other methods used to vary the temperature gradient were; to try placing a layer of insulation between the dry ice and the metal plate; placing an insulated box of dry ice on the top of the chamber, to cool it down; a thinner metal plate; using a different metal for the plate and blowing a heat gun on the top of the chamber. None of these caused any noticeable improvement.
There were difficulties involved since the mat was not in good thermal contact with the chamber and though the resistors were evenly spaced, there would still be variations in temperature across the surface. Also the mat seemed unable to get any hotter than 44°C; this was likely due to the extreme cold at the bottom of the chamber keeping the system cool.
Though the setup with the heated mat worked, it made no improvement and took much longer to prepare.
Other methods used to vary the temperature gradient were; to try placing a layer of insulation between the dry ice and the metal plate; placing an insulated box of dry ice on the top of the chamber, to cool it down; a thinner metal plate; using a different metal for the plate and blowing a heat gun on the top of the chamber. None of these caused any noticeable improvement.
The Experiments - Temperature Gradient
