water conservation, chemists spread a thin fi lm of a certain
In water conservation, chemists spread a thin fi lm of a certain inert material over the surface of water to cut down on the rate of evaporation of water in reservoirs. This technique was pioneered by Benjamin Franklin three centuries ago. Franklin found that 0.10 mL of oil could spread over the surface of water about 40 m2 in area. Assuming that the oil forms a monolayer, that is, a layer that is only one molecule thick, estimate the length of each oil molecule in nanometers (1 nm = 1 x 10–9 m).
