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Area: Ciencias Naturales y Asignatura/Subject: Química

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Actividad/Activity: ALCOHOLS TEST LABORATORY ELEVENTH GRADE:
Profesor(a)/Teacher: LILIANA RAMIREZ Fecha/Date:
Nombre del estudiante/Student´s name:

OBJECTIVE THE SOLUTIONS FROM THE TEST TUBE IN THE

Determine the reactivity of alcohols according to the WATER!
parameters of an oxidation reaction.
Identify alcohols as primary, secondary and tertiary 6. Use a stopwatch to take the times of reaction of every
single test tube. Record the times in the table depicted
MATERIALS below.
7. You will see the change of the acidified K2Cr2O7 solution
3 test tubes from orange to green color. When green color appears,
1 test tube rack record the time of reaction for that specific test tube in the
1 test tube clamps table below.
10 mL graduated pipettes (4 units)
100 mL volumetric flask (1 unit) 8. After the test ends, get the test tubes back to the rack
1 100 mL beaker using test tube clamps. Then, pour the solutions formed in
1 250 ml beaker every single test tube into a plastic bottle to collect the
1 watch glass residue. DON’T DRAIN THE TEST TUBES CONTAIN
1 stove (for water heating) INTO THE SINK, because the solutions formed are very
Ethanol toxic and mix completely with water. Wash the test tubes
Isopropanol (2-propanol) and leave them in the rack with no water residues. Leave all
Terbutanol (2-methyl-2-propanol) the material and work place well cleaned.
Distilled water
Potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) RESULTS
Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) Record all the changes that alcohols underwent when
Stopwatch added to the acidified K2Cr2O7 solution in the next table.
Permanent marker
Table 1. Results for the oxidation of alcohols
INSTRUCTIONS Change of
Time of Type of
1. Prepare 100 mL of a 10% m/m potassium dichromate in Test tube color?
reaction (s) alcohol
(Yes/No)
acid by weighing 1 g of K2Cr2O7 in a watch glass and 1
pouring it into a beaker and adding distilled water. After 2
adding about 40 mL of water, add carefully 1-2 mL of 3
sulfuric acid (H2SO4) to the solution.
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
2. Take the acidified K2Cr2O7 solution from the beaker to a According to the results recorded above, answer the next
100 mL volumetric flask, and get the solution to the questions:
graduation mark. This solution will be used for all the
groups’ alcohol test. 1. What types of alcohols are ethanol, isopropanol, and
terbutanol, respectively? How can this be determined
3. Mark the test tubes with numbers 1 to 3 and and them 2 according to the test results?
mL of the acidified K2Cr2O7 solution using a 10 mL 2. Why some alcohols changed the acidified K2Cr2O7
graduated pipette. solution to green color and others do not? Explain this by
checking the alcohol’s oxidation topic seen in class.
4. Add 1 mL of the three alcohols available (ethanol, 3. Write the structural condensed formulas for the three
isopropanol and terbutanol) in test tubes 1, 2 and 3, alcohols tested and write the equation of oxidation reaction
respectively. for every single alcohol.

5. Take the test tube rack with the three test tubes to the
250 mL beaker that contains warm water. Use the test tube
clamps to put the test tubes into the water. DO NOT POUR
CONCLUSION
Answer the next questions as a complement to the alcohol’s
test.

1. Why and acidified K2Cr2O7 solution is used for this test?

Write a chemical equations that explains why acidified
K2Cr2O7 solution is used and the color change caused by
the alcohols?
2. What type of alcohols can be identified immediately using
this test? Explain.
3. Is there another test to identify primary and secondary
alcohols? Write a paragraph (10 lines minimum) that explain
a test you can find to identify this types of alcohols. Don’t
forget to record the biography you find using APA’s rules.