Question

You are given three beakers of unknown liquids. One beaker contains pure water. One contains salt water. One contains sugar water. Without tasting the liquids, how could you identify the liquid in each beaker?

Answer 1

Answer: The density and electrical conductivity of the solutions can be measured

Explanation:

We could get three beakers and measure the mass of the solution by subtracting the mass of the beaker from mass of solution + beaker. After that, we use a measuring cylinder to determine the volumes of the three solutions. The density is then obtained from:

Density= mass/volume

The density of pure water is always 1gcm-3.

Measurement of electrical conductivity will distinguish between the salt and sugar solutions. The salt solution will have high electrical conductivity. The solution with the highest electrical conductivity is the salt solution while the solution with the least electrical conductivity is the sugar solution. Sugar does not conduct electricity in solution because it does not contain ions.

Answer 2

Trick question: you just stated everything in the beakers.