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 Chemistry Section D : A Closer Look at Organic Materials

Part 4: Practical Work

 

1. Combustion of paper
This practical is available as a .pdf download

Set up the apparatus as shown below:
 

Turn on the vacuum pump and carefully ignite the paper.

Record your observations in the table

  Observations Explanation
Surface of filter funnel    
Anhydrous copper sulphate  

 

  
Limewater    

Questions:

Apart from the products identified above, what else is produced during the reaction?

Write a word equation for the reaction?

What elements is paper made up from? Explain how the results of the experiment shows this.

2. Combustion of polystyrene
This practical is available as a .pdf download

Your teacher will have shown you the following experiment.

Does the polystyrene burn easily?

Write down what you see when the polystyrene burns.

Name the products of combustion of polystyrene and write a word equation for the reaction.

How did your teacher identify the presence of carbon dioxide?

How can the combustion of polystyrene be dangerous?

Extra:

Given that the chemical formula of polystyrene is (CH2CHC6H5)n (n is a large number) try and write a balanced chemical equation for the reaction.

3. Comparing the combustion of a candle with that of ethanol
This practical is available as a .pdf download

Combustion of a candle Combustion of ethanol

  1. Light the wick of the candle.
  2. Observe the colour of the flame.
  3. Place a beaker over the candle and record your observations.
  4. Leave the beaker to cool, then add 5mL of lime water and shake.
  1. Pour 2cm3 of ethanol into the evaporating basin and ignite carefully with a match.
  2. Observe the colour of the flame.
  3. Place a beaker over the candle and record your observations.
  4. Leave the beaker to cool, then add 5mL of lime water and shake.
Observations Observations
Colour of flame: Colour of flame:
What did you see on the surface of the beaker? What did you see on the surface of the beaker?
1. 1.
2. 2.
What happened to the limewater? Explain. What happened to the limewater? Explain.
Questions Questions
1. Name the products of combustion. 1. Name the products of combustion.
2. What type of combustion is the combustion of a candle? 2. What type of combustion is the combustion of ethanol.
3. Write a word and balanced symbol equation for the reaction. 3. Write a word and balanced symbol equation for the reaction.

4. Heating Sugar
This practical is available as a .pdf download

Set up the apparatus as shown :

Heat the sugar strongly and record all observations.

Using a match try and ignite any gas that leaves the test tube.

Results:

Sugar Observations Explanation
Appearance before heating.    
Appearance during heating.    
Appearance after heating    

Name the combustible gas.

Write a word equation for the reaction.
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