Melting Point And Boiling Point Of Organic Compoun

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EXPERIMENT NUMBER ONE Objective In this experiment we will become familiar how to obtain the melting point and boiling point of Organic compounds. Theory Part 1 Melting Points The melting point of a pure solid organic compound is one of its characteristic physical properties, along with molecular weight, boiling point, refractive index, and density. Melting points are determined for three reasons. If the compound is a known one the melting point will help to characterize the sample in hand. If the compound is new then the melting point is recorded in order to allow future characterization by others. And finally the range of the melting point is indicative of the purity of the compound; a pure solid will melt reproducibly over a narrow range of temperatures, less than 1 °C. A pure solid will melt reproducibly over a narrow range of temperatures, less than 1 °C and an impure compound will melt over a wide range of temperatures. Recrystallization of the compound will purify it and the melting point range will decrease. In addition, the entire range will be displaced upward. For example, an impure sample might melt from 118-122 and after recrystallization melt at 123- 124. A solid is considered pure if the melting point does not rise after recrystallization. A crystal is an orderly arrangement of molecules in a solid. As heat is added to the solid, the molecules will vibrate and perhaps rotate but still remain a solid. At a characteristic temperature it will suddenly acquire the necessary energy to overcome the forces that attract one molecule to another and it will undergo translational motion- in other words, it will become a liquid. The forces by which one molecule is attracted to another include ionic attraction, van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonds, and dipole attraction. Most, but by no means all, organic molecules are covalent in nature and
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