ABSTRACT
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the size of zeolite particles using the rate of sedimentation and to understand the factors affecting the sedimentation process.
Sedimentation is a process that arises from Earth’s gravitational eld. As gravitational force is exerted on particles, unless there is an equal force acting on the particle in the opposite direction, particles do sediment. The rate of sedimentation depends on factors such as the mass of the particle and the medium it travels in. A ball of higher mass sediments faster than a small one, and sedimentation is faster in low-viscosity mediums, such as air, compared to water. However, when particles are small, such as those that are in the colloidal size range, there are forces that act on them apart from the gravitational force. Brownian motion is a continuous random motion that small particles experience. This random motion results in collision of particles and follows a “random walk,” in a fashion very similar to that of gas molecules. This movement is responsible for the diffusion of molecules in gaseous or liquid state (Hunter, 1994).
