P. Anteater ID 9876541 Section 40000 Using Distillation to Separate a Mixture Introduction/Theory The purpose of this experiment was to separate two liquids using distillation. The technique of distillation works by separating compounds with different boiling points, and boiling point is determined by vapor pressure and intermolecular forces. It is the temperature where a liquid becomes a gas. Usually, compounds with stronger and more intermolecular forces have higher boiling points. Distillation works by putting a liquid mixture into a flask. Then we set up a distillation apparatus where we connected a distilling head to the flask and added a thermometer adapter to that. Then we added the thermometer. It is important that the top of the thermometer bulb is level with the bottom of the condenser. The condenser is where the liquid condenses after it boils. Then the liquid travels down the condenser to a receiving flask. We used a graduated cylinder instead of a receiving flask. Both simple and fractional distillations were done in lab. Results Simple Distillation Fractional Distillation Compound A​
B.P. 62 C Compound A​
B.P. 58 C Compound A​
volume 4.2 mL Compound A​
volume 5.0 mL Compound B​
B.P Compound B​
B.P 99 C Compound B​
volume 4.6 mL 93 C Compound B​
volume 3.1 mL Total volume initial mixture 10 mL Total volume initial mixture 10 mL See appendix for graphs from distillations. Discussion Compound A was acetone and compound B was water. This is because the boiling points were close to acetone and water. The distillations worked efficiently because we separated the liquids and identified them based on boiling point. The fractional distillation was better because less liquid was lost. Also, the boiling points obtained from the fractional distillation were closer to the literature boiling points for acetone and water (56 C and 99 C, respectively). Errors could be setting up the distillation incorrectly or heating too fast. The volume of the simple distillation might be low because maybe some was spilled. Conclusion and Future Experiments Future experiments could include using more than just boiling point to identify the liquids. Refractive index and spectroscopy could also be used. In conclusion, the distillations worked well, and the unknown liquids were identified as acetone and water. Appendix