5 Evaluation and Analysis

This chapter presents the measurements carried out and the corresponding results. It also describes the evaluation and application of the Bhattacharjee–Ferrell theory.

5.1 Chemicals Used and Their Properties

Table 5.1 lists the substances used in this work, together with the manufacturers’ specifications. Nitromethane and 1-pentanol are the components of the binary critical system; 1-butanol serves as the reference substance for the resonator data.

Table 5.1. Manufacturer specifications for the substances used: nitromethane (CH₃NO₂, Fluka, ≥99.0%, 61.04 u), 1-pentanol (C₅H₁₁OH, Fluka, ≥99.0%, 88.16 u), and 1-butanol (C₄H₉OH, Fluka, ≥99.0%, 74.12 u).

1. Nitromethane

Nitromethane is the simplest member of the nitroalkane family. It is a clear, colorless, mobile and flammable liquid that is miscible in all proportions with ethanol, methanol and diethyl ether. Its solubility in water is limited (approximately 95 g of nitromethane can dissolve in 1 L of water at room temperature). Its strong solvent properties make handling difficult, particularly in combination with silicone- or PVC-based materials such as tubing and seals (continued on the next page).

Original footnote 1 — Preparation: Direct nitration of lower hydrocarbons with nitric acid under normal conditions is unsuitable for producing nitroalkanes. Gas-phase nitration at 400–500 °C is required. When ethane is used, nitroethane and nitromethane form in a 9:1 ratio. Primary nitroalkanes can also be obtained by the classical Victor Meyer method (Victor Meyer, born 1848 in Berlin, died 1897) from alkyl halides and silver nitrite. Using silver nitrite rather than sodium nitrite improves the yield; reacting bromomethane with silver nitrite produces nitromethane.

Original mathematical notation is preserved in the extracted image assets.