Question

Read about Ryan's experiment.
In an experiment, Ryan filled a beaker with 100 milligrams (mg) of a liquid solvent, Y, then heated it to 75°C. Next, 20 mg of a solid solute, X, was crushed into 1 millimeter (mm) pieces and added to the beaker. The mixture was stirred for 1 minute, and allowed to sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. The final solution was found to contain 20% of the solute as an undissolved solid.
Which of the following adjustments would have decreased the amount of undissolved solid at the end of Ryan's experiment?
A.
Crushing the solute into 2 mm particles instead of 1 mm particles.
B.
Raising the temperature of the solvent to 50°C instead of 75°C.
C.
Resting the mixture for 7 minutes instead of 10 minutes.
D.
Stirring the mixture for 3 minutes instead of 1 minute.

Answers

GPT-4o mini
To determine which adjustment would have decreased the amount of undissolved solid at the end of Ryan's experiment, let's analyze the options:

A. **Crushing the solute into 2 mm particles instead of 1 mm particles.**
- Crushing the solute into larger particles (2 mm) would decrease the surface area available for solvent interaction, likely leading to more undissolved solid. This would not decrease the amount of undissolved solid, and could potentially increase it.

B. **Raising the temperature of the solvent to 50°C instead of 75°C.**
- Lowering the temperature to 50°C (from 75°C) would generally decrease the solubility of solids in liquids. Therefore, this option would likely result in more undissolved solid rather than less.

C. **Resting the mixture for 7 minutes instead of 10 minutes.**
- Reducing the resting time to 7 minutes might not significantly improve the dissolution of the solute in the solvent, as the solute still requires time to fully dissolve. This option is unlikely to decrease the amount of undissolved solid.

D. **Stirring the mixture for 3 minutes instead of 1 minute.**
- Increasing the stirring time to 3 minutes would allow for better mixing and interaction between the solute and solvent, which can enhance the dissolution process. This would likely decrease the amount of undissolved solid at the end of the experiment.

Based on this analysis, the adjustment that would have decreased the amount of undissolved solid at the end of Ryan's experiment is:

**D. Stirring the mixture for 3 minutes instead of 1 minute.**

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