Lab report Basic Organic Chemistry (CHM200)

Experiment 1
Determination of Melting Points

Reported to: Dr. Jinan ABDEL KADER

Reported by: Farah AL Dakkour

Amar Deeb
Hiam Chahade

Date of submission: 11/01/2018

Activity objective:
This experiment involves identification of an unknown solid by its melting point, since we have listed
the melting points of a lot of substances

Compound M.P, C°.

Stearic acid 68 – 70
Palmitic acid 61 – 64
Oleic acid 13 – 14
Urea 133 – 135
Salicylic acid 158 – 161
Biphenyl 70 – 71

Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the melting points of various organic compounds and
to use these to identify unknowns.

Summary of results:
In our experiment, the particles of palmitic acid in the first tube started melting at 62°C and had
melted completely at 65°C and the particles of stearic acid in the second tube started melting at 68°C
and had melted completely at 71°C While the particles of the unknown in the third tube started
melting at 63°C and had melted completely at 65°C which is similar to the results obtained from the
first tube. So that the unknown was supposed to be palmitic acid since the results of their melting
points are similar.

Introduction:
The melting point of a compound is the temperature at which it changes from a solid to a
liquid. This is a physical property often used to identify compounds or to check the purity of
the compound.
It is difficult, though, to find a melting point. Usually, chemists can only obtain a melting
range of a 2 – 3°C accuracy. This is usually sufficient for most uses of the melting point.

Materials:

Mel - Temp apparatus

Capillary tubes
Thermometer
Watch glass
Solid organic compounds (Stearic acid and Palmitic acid)
Method:
1. Place the solid organic compounds on a watch glass
2. Obtain a capillary melting point tube and the solid in the watch glass
3. Push the open end of the tube into the compound smoothly. Some of the sample will
be in the top of the tube.
4. Hold the closed end of the capillary tube perpendicular to the table and start shaking
the tube gently on the table surface until the powder moved into the bottom of the
tube.
5. Place the thermometer and the capillary melting point tubes in the Mel-temp
apparatus chamber. Start with a setting of two, the temperature should slowly rise.
The samples should be observed continuously, so that the melting point of the is not
missed. Heat slowly to acquire the most accurate results. Record the melting range,
which begins when the sample first starts to melt and ends when the sample is
completely melted.
6. Allow the Mel-Temp to cool. Determine the melting ranges of samples. Identify the
unknown by comparing the data of the knowns to the data obtained from the
unknown.

Data and Results:

Compound Palmitic acid Melting range:

Tube 1 62 – 65
Compound Stearic acid Melting range:
Tube 2 68 – 71
Compound Unknown Melting range:
Tube 3 63 – 65

Discussion:
The difference between the purely theoretical definition of the melting temperature and the results
obtained in practice is now widely recognized.
In the case of pure substances, the beginning of melting can be observed with some certainty. For
impure substances, the beginning of the melting process will vary, depending on the nature of the
impurities. Therefore it has been proposed that in the basic tests the following definition of melting
point be used.
The melting point denotes the temperature at which the substance has just completely melted; this is
indicated by the disappearance of the solid phase and complete transparency of the melt.
This approach has the disadvantage that, if impurities are present, their presence can only be deduced
from the lowering of the melting-point value, as no observation is made of the melting interval. An
increase in the latter usually indicates low purity of a substance.

Conclusion:
In this experiment we used melting points to determine an unknown by its melting point range.
We obtained the results of the unknown compounds and compared it to the result of the unknown
compound and then we were able to identify our unknown compound which was palmitic acid.