I'm trying to write my lab report for an experiment I did involving the preparation of synthetic pear oil. We mixed hexyl alcohol and acetic acid and produced hexyl acetate along with some other garbage. We got rid of most of the garbage except for the hexyl alcohol. So we distilled the liquid in order to get rid of the alcohol and keep the hexyl acetate.
But, when we heated the liquid, we weren't able to get it hotter than 100 degrees C. (We were trying to get to 170). The thermometer rose to 100, then dropped to 80, rose to 100, dropped to 80... and meanwhile nothing distilled out.
So the TA's told us just to quit and write our report based on what happened. I'm trying to figure out why we weren't able to get the temperature any higher, other than a malfunction in the heating plate (we had it set to max). Are there any other possible reasons?
Thanks! :o) |
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