A perfect storm in a cup of salt water?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on an experiment conducted by Charles Xie, revealing a temperature gradient in a cup of saturated salt water, where the bottom is approximately 0.5 Celsius warmer than the top after 100 hours. This phenomenon does not occur in pure or unsaturated salt water. Xie documented his findings and subsequent experiments on his blog, providing insights into the underlying mechanisms driving this temperature difference. He later confirmed his hypothesis regarding the cause of the gradient.

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This discussion is beneficial for chemists, physicists, and educators interested in thermodynamics, solution chemistry, and experimental methodologies.

CharlesConcord
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Hi all:

I have been puzzled by a very simple experiment I did lately. I found there exists a temperature gradient in a cup of saturated salt water--the bottom is about 0.5 Celsius warmer than the top. That is after the solution has been left intact for more than 100 hours. There is no such temperature gradient in a cup of pure water or unsaturated salt water.

I documented these experiments in my blog:

http://molecularworkbench.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-is-bottom-of-cup-of-salty-water.html
http://molecularworkbench.blogspot.com/2010/09/evaporation-is-driving-force.html
http://molecularworkbench.blogspot.com/2010/09/temperature-gradient-only-exists-in.html

I am going to continue my experiments to figure out why. In the meantime, can anyone enlighten me?

Charles Xie
 
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Nice!
 

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