Experiment

Apparatus Required
Beakers
Conical Flask
Filtration Flasks
Vacuum Pump
Bent Tube
Glass Rod
50% Ammonia Solution
Dilute H2SO4
Filter Paper/ Waste paper

Procedure
The cellulose is dissolved in cuprammonium hydroxide
[Cu(NH3)4](OH)2

To Prepare Cuprammonium Hydroxide Solution

Weigh about 20 g of crystalline copper sulphate in a clean
watch glass. Dissolve it in 100ml of water in a beaker. Add
dilute NaOH solution to this solution slowly with stirriong and
note the separation of the Cu(OH)2. Filter the precipitate on a
water pump and wash the precipitate thoroughly with water so
that a portion of filtrate does not indicate the presence of
sulphate ions on testing with BaCl2 solution. Now transfer the
precipitate to a 250ml beaker and add 50 ml of liquid ammonia.
The precipitate will dissolve resulting in a deep blue solution of
cuprammonium hydroxide (Schweiers Solution). This is the
solvent to dissolve cellulose.
DISSOLVING THE CELLULOSE MATTER
Weigh about 1g of ordinary filter paper and cut it into small pieces.
Add these pieces to the cuprammonium solution taken in a conical
flask. Close the flask with a rubber stopper and allow it to stand for
3-4 days. In this time, filter paper completely dissolves leaving a
viscous solution called viscous
Formation of Rayon Filament
The viscous solution is taken in a syringe. Then the nozzle of the
syringe is dipped into 5M H2SO4 solution taken in a wide-mouthed
beaker. Squeeze out the viscose into the acid solution and at the
same time keep moving the nozzle in the acid. Long filaments of
rayon will be formed in the beaker. The acid bath is left undisturbed
for 24 hours, until the blue colour of the filament changes to white.

Rayon filaments are then removed from the acid bath, washed with
water and dried by keeping them on a filter paper. When the thrads
are completely dried, weigh them and determine the maximum
length of the fibre formed