Virtual Lab Manual

Matter and Phase Changes: Distil

Ethanol

Synopsis
Get ready to encounter all three states of matter. In this simulation, you will manipulate the
states of matter and inspect the phase changes. Will you be able to see that almost everything
you interact with matters?

Explore the intermolecular forces in matter

In the Matter and Phase Changes simulation, you will meet Jo who has a limited fuel supply
and therefore wants to produce bioethanol. In order to help her, you must first master the
definition of matter and the process of phase changes. You will dive into the water and examine
the dynamics of intermolecular forces of water molecules during the phase changes. With the
help of 3D animations, you will learn about the molecular configuration in three states of
matter: Solid, liquid, and gas.

Generate heating curves

Once you’ve mastered the basics, you are ready to learn about additional aspects of phase
changes: Specific heat, latent heat, and pressure. You will utilize a temperature probe and a
heat plate to generate a heating curve and then compare the heating curve of water, ethanol,
and metal. By doing so, you will be able to decode the meaning of each line of the heating
curves.

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Perform distillation
At the end of the simulation, you will put your newly acquired knowledge to the test!. You are
going to use the distillation technique to achieve ethanol with higher purity.

Will you be able to produce high purity ethanol for Jo?

Learning Objectives
At the
end of this simulation, you will be able to…
●Explain solid, liquid, and gas states in terms of particle interaction and bonding energy
●Describe and explain the characteristics of a phase change
●Read a phase diagram and explain each region
●Interpret a heating curve of a given substance
●Explain the difference between a heating curve and a phase diagram, and the difference
between specific heat and latent heat
● Understand the basic steps of performing a distillation
● Distinguish between physical and chemical properties of matter and classify changes
of matter as physical or chemical
● Name the main phase changes: boiling, evaporation, freezing, melting, and sublimation

Techniques in Lab

● Distillation

Theory

Matter
Matter is best defined as anything that occupies space and has mass. Matter is the material
of the universe. Solids, liquids, and gases are three states of matter commonly found on earth.

Type of energy or abstract concepts such as time, light, love, heat, or gravity are not matter.

Phase changes
The states of matter depend on the intermolecular forces (IMF) and kinetics energies (KE) of
its particles -either molecules, ions, or atoms. The chemical identities of the particles in a
liquid determine the types and strength of intermolecular attraction possible.

The change of energy in a system determines the phase changes. To change from a certain
state to another state of matter, we must add enough energy to overcome the intermolecular
forces that hold the particles together.

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Figure 1: The phase changes.

Melting The energy required to break the intermolecular forces and increase the motion of the
particles during solid to liquid transition is called heat of fusion, or enthalpy of fusion, ΔHfus.
In chemistry, melting is known as fusion.

Vaporization The degree of particle movement keeps increasing as the temperature rises. The
motion of the particles becomes more rapid and spread apart as the particles move into
gaseous states. At this point, even less intermolecular forces keep the molecules together.
The transition from liquid to gas is called evaporation. The energy involved in this phase
changes is called heat of vaporization, or enthalpy of vaporization, ΔHvap.

Sublimation Some solids can skip the liquid phase and change to the gaseous state directly.
The transition from solid to gas is called sublimation. The energy required in sublimation is
called heat of sublimation, or enthalpy of sublimation, ΔHSub.

Generally, the heat of sublimation is a lot larger than the heat of vaporization, with the heat
of fusion as the smallest value. This is because all the intermolecular forces in the gaseous
states are severed, while in liquid some are intact, and in solid most are unbroken. It requires
more energy to sever all intermolecular forces between the particles.

Distillation
Distillation depends on the different properties of a substance to form gases. It is a powerful
method to separate the constituents of a homogenous mixture.

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Figure 2. Distillation apparatus. 1. Thermometer; 2. Distillation flask; 3. Heating mantle; 4.
Condenser; 5. Cooling water out; 6. Cooling water in; 7. Collecting flask.
A mixture is heated until vapor is formed in a distillation apparatus. The most vo latile
substance evaporates first at the lowest temperature. The vapor is then changed back to liquid
after it passed a cooling tube called the condenser. This setup is called simple distillation. It
works well to separate mixtures that contain one volatile component.

The simple distillation is unable to result in pure substance if the mixture includes several
volatile components. A more sophisticated distillation is required to obtain the pure substance
from a mix with various volatile constituents.

Physical and chemical changes

A chemical change is when matter converts from one type to another type. Some examples of
chemical changes:

● Formation of rust: Rust is a different kind of matter than the iron, oxygen, and water
present before the rust formed.
● The explosion of nitroglycerin: Gases produced are very different kinds of matter form
the original substance.
● All form of combustion
● Food is cooked, digested, or rotting.

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A physical change is a change in the form of a substance but not its composition. It occurs
when matter changes among solid, liquid, or gaseous states. You can see a physical change
when you freeze or boil water. The water turns states, but it is still composed of H2O
molecules.

During chemical change or physical changes, there is no detectable change in the total quantity
of matter. This phenomenon is called the law of conservation of matter.

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