EXPERIMENTNO: 1

EXPERIMENT TITLE:THE MELTING POINT AND MIXED MELTING POINT

LAST NAME: RANKO

INITIALS: B

I.D NO: 202205220

LAB DAY: MONDAY

DATE:21/08/2023

PAETNER’S LAST NAME: SEKGOMA

PARTENER’S I.D NO:202206945

I.AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT

The aim of this experiment is to determine the melting point of a series of compounds and the
melting point of mixtures of acid with each compound in order to find out which substance is
the given acid.

ii. PRINCIPLE

The melting point of a compound is the temperature at which a solid phase and liquid phase
are in equilibrium. It is a measure of the amount of kinetic energy (heat) that must be supplied
to the particles of a substance in order to overcome the intermolecular forces that confine
them to the solid state. The melting point range is defined as the span of temperature from
which the crystals first begin to liquefy to the point at which the entire sample is liquid .The
mixture of different molecules causes a lowering of the freezing point , the presence of soluble
impurities almost causes a decrease in the melting point expected for the pure compound and a
broadening of the melting point range. In order to understand effects of impurities on melting
point behavior a eutectic plot is made using a graph. Eutectic composition is the lowest possible
melting point for a mixture.

iv) ACTION PLAN

Apparatus and chemicals needed and summarized action plan (in bullet points or venn diagram
 Apparatus Required Chemicals Required
 Mel-temperature melting point  Unknowing organic solid
 Mortar and pestle  Adipic Acid
 Capillary tubes
 Spatula
 Glass rod
 Petri dish

 Weigh the chemicals being tested.

 Grind the sample into fine powered.
 Place the powdered solid into the melting point tube.
 Place the melting point tube in the melting point apparatus.
 Record the temperatures at which liquid droplets appear.
 Record the temperatures at which the last solid particles liquefy.
 Write the results
 Repeat for each compound.

V. PROCEDURE

1. Three petri dishes were collected and filled with three unknown solids ,the dishes were
labeled AII ,BII and CII.

2. Three glass capillary melting point tubes were obtained and one of their ends sealed
using heat and the other end open. Then the open end of the tube was jabbed into a pile of
the solid to be analyzed.

3. The capillary tube were inverted and gently tapped on the bench top to cause the solid to
fall to the closed end and allowed to be packed at the bottom of the tube until it was of
certain height but not more than 2mm.
4. The capillary tubes containing samples were then inserted into a slots behind the view
finder of a melting point apparatus and the apparatus was turned on and the setting was
adjusted to an appropriate heating rate.

5. A magnified view of the sample in the apparatus was illuminated through the view finder
and then the sample was heated at a minimum rate.

6. The first temperature of the melting range was recorded with the appearance of the first
visible drop of liquid. The temperature reading was recorded to the nearest degree.

7. The second temperature of the melting point range was recorded when the entire sample
melted which occurred when all portion of the opaque solid turned to a transparent liquid.

8. When another melting point trial was performed directly after the first the metal block
was allowed to cool first before the next melting point was determined.

VII.CONCLUSION

In part A ,the melting point of AI was determined to be 140.4-145.0 ,BI to be 129.6-136.3 and
CI to be 114.2-132.5.In part B the unknown compound CI had a melting point range of 157.6-
160.1 and the unknown is identified to be Adipic Acid. This is because the sample was
identical to the reference substance that was added as the melting point range was
identical.

viii. REFERENCES

James W. Zubrick. The Organic Chemistry Survival Manual (A Student Guide to Techniques),
February 2020. Pages 75

R.Raap ,N.Khalifa. organic chemistry Experiments for Chemistry 230 and 231,
Camosun College, Department of Chemistry and Geoscience ,Victoria ,Bc, Revised
July 2005. Pages 43-45.