Urgent Chemistry

When making ethyl ethanoate for step 1, where ethanol, ethanoic acid and sulfuric acid are added to a pear shaped flask for reflux to happen, I didn't let the water in the beaker heat up before lowering the pear shaped flask into the water, I put the pear shaped flask in and left it for 15 min which is the time required and added a min onto that to make up for it. Do u think my practical will still work??

Reply 1

TypicalNerd

18

Original post by Bird1234

When making ethyl ethanoate for step 1, where ethanol, ethanoic acid and sulfuric acid are added to a pear shaped flask for reflux to happen, I didn't let the water in the beaker heat up before lowering the pear shaped flask into the water, I put the pear shaped flask in and left it for 15 min which is the time required and added a min onto that to make up for it. Do u think my practical will still work??

Heating is presumably done to increase the rate of reaction. Without heating, the reaction should be much, much slower and one extra minute will add next to nothing. You can justify this with the crude approximation that for every 10°C you raise the temperature by, the reaction rate doubles. I.e the reaction performed at 20°C should be roughly 2^8 = 256 times slower than when it is performed at 100°C.

I reckon your yield will be very poor.

Reply 2

Nitrotoluene

8

Original post by Bird1234

When making ethyl ethanoate for step 1, where ethanol, ethanoic acid and sulfuric acid are added to a pear shaped flask for reflux to happen, I didn't let the water in the beaker heat up before lowering the pear shaped flask into the water, I put the pear shaped flask in and left it for 15 min which is the time required and added a min onto that to make up for it. Do u think my practical will still work??

Oops! Common Error Students Make!
So, did you heat the water in the beaker before you place the flask in? Don't sweat it too much. Just imagine what happens the next time.
Here are a few things to consider:
-Temperature stuff: If the water was not preheated, temp in the flask could be erratic. You might have hot spots or cold spots, and that can screw with what you’re doing.
-Water droplet: Water can condensation on the sides when putting the flask in cold water. This would prolong the entire process, or ruin whatever you were making.
-Velocity: Because of the temp thing, it may take everything a little longer. But this is ultimately not a super fast reaction anyway, so maybe it’s not such a big issue.
To make things better, here’s what you can do:
-Watch the Temp: Ensure the water & flask come to the right temp (usually 80-90°C for these types of reactions)
-Mix it up: Stir it around occasionally to distribute the heat so that nothing gets too hot.
-If something looks off, such as it’s not bubbling properly or the color changes unexpectedly, consider switching things around.
You should be okay, even if things look a bit different than usual, because you put in an extra minute. Just have these things in mind so you know the reality of the situation.
Heat the water first next time. That will make things go smoother.
Kind regards from Italy,
Sandro

(edited 1 month ago)

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