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Lab Report Fractional Distillation And Gas Chromatography

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CH 220 Lab Report 1: Fractional Distillation of a Binary Mixture and Gas Chromatography This experiment was done in order to understand both fractional distillations and gas chromatography. In addition, this experiment was done to separate and identify two liquids that made up an unknown mixture. Gas chromatography was used to figure out the ratio of these two liquids. In this experiment, distillations were done. This is a technique that utilizes the differing boiling points of two or more compounds in a mixture in order to separate the compounds from the mixture. The way fractional distillation works is that the initial mixture is boiled up to the point of the lower boiling point compound; this compound then evaporates. This compound is then …show more content…

The volume and the boiling point of each collected sample was recorded in a table (for Fractions A, B, and C). The data in the table was converted into a graph (both of which are attached to the back of the report). There is, like in all experiments, an ideal set of data. In this experiment, if the distillation for the unknown mixture (which has two compounds) was done properly, the temperature vs. volume graph should show two plateaus for temperature. (See hand drawn graph attached on back). We look at the plateau temperatures because they are essential to find out what the unknown compounds are. This is because the plateau temperatures show us the boiling point ranges for the unknown compounds. In addition, as shown in the table and calculations attached to back, the volume of the collected sample can be utilized to figure out a ratio of the compounds. But, of course, since ideal and pure samples were not collected, the ratios that are calculated are just estimates. There is one plateau for the boiling point of both lower and higher boiling point compounds. The lower boiling point plateau comes first. The transition phase that occurs between the first and second plateaus was collected. This transition phase represented the mixture of the two compounds in the experiment. If the experiment yielded ideal results, sample A would show to be consisted of primarily the lower boiling point compound. This would be the case up to the point when the temperature is raised to match the boiling point of the higher boiling point compound. The compound is sample C. During the experiment this sample was gathered in a falcon tube. But there is some error in my results. Some of the reasons why there was error in the experiment are stated. I boiled Fraction A for too long, the boiling rate was too high, or a combination of these errors occurred. If the boiling rate is too fast, the side arm will heat up as the

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