4.What assumptions are made in the stearic acid experiment to calculate the value of Avogadro’s number?

Assumptions made:

1. Every drop of stearic acid from the pipette was of equal volume

2. The top surface area of the water layer was the same for each trial

Explanation:

The estimation of the Avogadro's number from the stearic acid experiment involves placing tiny droplets of stearic acid from a pipette over a surface area water.  Once this is done, a monolayer of Stearic acid is formed, from which several calculations are used to extract the Avogadro's number.

1. An assumption that has to be made is that each drop of stearic acid introduced from the pipette is of the same size. In reality, several factors such as air bubbles, pressure, and temperature can contribute to the varying size of the stearic acid drops.

2. The top surface area of water covered during each trial was equal. This assumption is present because the surface area of water considered for each trial may, in reality, vary with each test and can be a source of errors.