Alcohols and Carboxylic Acids - Topic 9 Flashcards
What is the general formula for alcohols?
Are alcohols hydrocarbons?
no as hydrocarbons only contain C and H
What is the functional group of alcohols?
-OH
How can alcohols form alkenes?
alcohols can be dehydrated to form alkenes
Are alcohols flammable?
- alcohols are generally flammable
- they will undergo combustion - this means they can be used as a fuel
- (like all fuels some are better than others)
What happens when alcohols burn?
when alcohols burn they release energy
What could the energy released through the combustion of alcohols be used for?
- this energy could power cars, heat homes and generate electricity
- so alcohols could be used as fuel in place of fossil fuels
Method to investigate different types of alcohol as a fuel:
- Put the alcohol in a spirit burner and measure the mass of the burner and fuel (with lid on)
- Measure 100cm3 of water into a copper calorimeter
- Insulate the calorimeter by using a draught excluder, then cover with an insulating lid after placing a thermometer inside - helps to make sure that minimal energy is lost to the surroundings
- Measure the initial temperature of the water using the thermometer and put the burner under the calorimeter and light the wick
- Stir the water using a glass rod, when heat from the burner has made the temperature of the water ‘rise by 20 degrees C, put the lid of the spirit burner back on the burner to blow out the flame
- Immediately reweigh the spirit burner and subtract the burner and fuels’ original mass - gives you the mass of the fuel burnt
- Repeat the experiment using the other alcohols (ethanol, butanol, methanol, propanol)
Diagram of apparatus used to investigate different types of alcohol as a fuel:
Correlation between formula of the alcohol and its efficiency as a fuel:
- the larger/longer the alcohol e.g. CH4H9OH should be the most efficient
- corresponds to the overall number of bonds being broken but also the number of new bonds being made (exo.)
Control variables when investigating the use of different alcohols as a fuel:
- distance between wick and bottom of can
- method of reducing heat loss
- keep length of wick the same
- check accurate mass (vol) of H2O
- keep same equipment
- volume of water
- volume of alcohol fuel
How can you improve experiment for investigating the use of different alcohols as fuel?
- introduce draught exclusion
- increase insulation
Why do members of a given homologous series have similar reactions?
- members of a given homologous series have similar reactions as their molecules contain the same functional group
- can be used to predict the products of other members of these series
How is ethanol produced?
- fermentation of carbohydrates in aqueous solution
- using yeast to provide enzymes
- solution is warmed
Process of fermentation to produce ethanol:
- produced from carbohydrates (sugars, fruit or starch)
- mixed with yeast and water
- mixture must be kept warm, just above room temperature (20 degrees C - 30 degrees C) and under anaerobic conditions
- must be kept warm so reaction is fast enough but yeast doesn’t denature
- anaerobic otherwise only CO2 and H20 would be produced otherwise
- yeast contains enzymes which are biological catalysts
- if there is oxygen then the enzymes will break down sugar to H2O and CO2 however in conditions without oxygen (anaerobic) the enzymes in yeast catalyse the breakdown of sugar into ethanol and CO2
- CO2 allowed to escape so it does not poison the yeast, but air is not allowed into the reaction vessel so that the yeast continues to produce ethanol
Fermentation equation:
- yeast - enzymes, biological catalyst
How can you obtain a concentrated solution of ethanol?
obtain a concentrated solution of ethanol by fractional distillation of the fermentation mixture
How is factional distillation used to obtain a concentrated solution of ethanol?
- higher conc than ethanol from fermentation
- water and ethanol solution are heated
- ethanol evaporates first (has a lower bp than water), cools and then condenses
- water left evaporates, cools and then condenses