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Course, Subject

Chemistry, Math, Science & Technology, Science (NYS P-12)

Procedure

1. Add cherry coke to distilling flask and boiling chip or glass bead
2. Assemble apparatus for distilling
3. Heat cherry coke gently, especially at beginning
4. Detect odor of the ester that gives cherry coke its special smell
5. Bubble some of the gas given off into limewater as test for carbon dioxide. Note the clear fraction (liquid water). Collect the clear fraction in flask and check its density.
6. Stop distillation at this point so as not to char sugars remaining in flask.

Author

John R Krikau

Teacher Notes

The sweet smelling ester and carbon dioxide are similar to the more volatile fractions which come off in the distillation of crude oil. The water fraction is a good contrast to the dark liquid left in the flask and points up distillation as means of separating components with different boiling points in a mixture. This lab is simple but gives students a known mixture to work with in the lab.

Description

Another fun lab to do without a formal write-up and just before a holiday break is to distill cherry coke. This is a simulation of the distillation of crude oil in the petroleum unit.

Related Academic Standards

New York State

S.HS.PS.1.5 Students who demonstrate understanding can apply scientific principles and evidence to explain how the rate of a physical or chemical change is affected when conditions are varied.

S.HS.PS.1.6 Students who demonstrate understanding can refine the design of a chemical system by specifying a change in conditions that would produce increased amounts of products at equilibrium.

MST4.C.C.PS3.1 Students explain the properties of materials in terms of the arrangement and properties of the atoms that compose them.