"The Distillation of Wood" (from IPS: 5th Edition)

Overview: This is your first lab in Science 1, so I am providing the following information as a model of what will be your pre-lab and lab report for all future labs. For most of the remaining labs, you will have to develop the pre-lab on your own, although you should check that lab's web page to find out if there are any notes or helpful suggestions.

Your pre-labs should always include the following:

( Your name, block, and date on the upper right corner of the first page)
Title: The Distillation of Wood

Purpose: To see what happens to wood when it is heated without burning, and to become familiar with the lab process and equipment.

Materials:
safety goggles and apron
2 test tubes
wood splints
1-hole stopper
2-hole stopper
2 glass elbows
beaker
water
burner
matches
ask tray
rubber tube
bucket
bottle
glycerine
paper towel
peg board
2 test tube clips
porcelain chips

Procedure:
1. Put on safety goggles and apron.

2. Pack a test tube with wood splints. Break the splints in half so that they fit, and leave room fora stopper to fit securely on the test tube.

3. Connect the test tube with splints to the rest of the apparatus as shown in Figure 1.1 in your text. (You must sketch it above!) *! Be sure to use glycerine and a paper towel when putting glass tubes into stoppers.

4. Have the teacher check your set-up.

5. Heat the test tube with wood using the burner. *! Be careful to keep the flame away from the rubber stopper and test tube clamp.

6. Observe what happens, and record this is the data section.

7. Try lighting the gas coming from the second glass elbow. Record observations in the data section.

8. Attach a rubber tube to the second glass elbow and put the other end in the collecting bottle full of water as shown in figure 1.2 of the text (sketch it above or on the back!). *! Use glycerine when attaching the rubber hose to the glass elbow.

9. Continue heating the wood, collecting gas given off in the bottle of water. When the bottle is full of gas, disconnect the rubber tube from the glass elbow, and take the tube out of the water. Be sure to disconnect the rubber tube first.

10. Re-light the gas coming from the 2nd glass elbow, and let it burn as long as possible, re-lighting as needed.

11. You may need to tilt or move the burner to make sure all the wood is heated.

12. When all the wood has been heated, turn off the burner. Examine the liquid in the upright test tube in the beaker of water. Record your observations in the data section.

(end of procedure part 1)

13. Put a few pieces of broken porcelain in the test tube of liquid you have collected.

14. Use the apparatus shown in figure 1.3 of the text (sketch it here!) to boil off about half of the liquid. *! Make sure the rubber tube is all the way into the collecting test tube in the beaker of water.

15. Record your observations in the data section.

16. Remove the rubber tube from the test tube in the beaker of water and then turn off the burner (in that order!).

17. Compare the liquid you collected in the test tube in the beaker to the original liquid. Do they look the same? Record in the data section.

18. Try mixing the liquids in the two test tubes. Record what happens.

19. Examine the remains of the wood splints. Try burning some of this wood (over the sink!). Record your observations in the data section.

20. Clean up.

Data (preferably on graph paper):
To finish your pre-lab, you should create a data section that has spaces to enter all of the observations you will have to make. This should be followed by all the bullet questions from the text (that you haven't already answered with other observations), with spaces to write your answers after doing the lab. For example:

Observations of wood when it is first heated:

Observations of trying to light the gas:

Observations of the liquid collected:

Observations of what happened when I boiled off half of the liquid:

Comparing the two liquids obtained by boiling:

Observations of the wood splint remains:

("Bullet" questions)
Can you tell whether the liquid collected when burning the wood was one liquid or more than one?

Is the liquid that condensed in the right-hand test tube the same as that in the left-hand one?

What happens when you mix them together?

Do the wood remains leave any ash when you light it?

Could you predict, just by looking at and handling the wood, that all these gases and liquids can be obtained from it?

Can you get the wood back by mixing all the material you have collected?

Were these substances there all the time, or were they formed by heating? Have you any evidence for your answer?

How can you compare the amounts of the different solids, liquids, and gasses that you got from the wood?

Lab Report Discussion and Conclusion:
All finished lab reports must also have a discussion and conclusion. Here are some suggestions of what to write about in your discussion:

Discussion Points: (Write at least a paragraph that discusses these points.)
a) Compare and contrast this lab with melting ice.
b) Explain where the substances you collected came from: were they there all the time, or did you create them? Where did the wood go?
c) Describe other examples of substances that can produce other substances.
d) Explain what this lab tells you about the nature of matter.
e) Describe any possible lab error or other factors that may have affected your data and how.

Conclusion: Write a short statement (full sentences) that answers "What happens to wood when it is heated without burning it?"

That's it - your first lab report! By the way, this process is used to produce many commercial substances... can you guess what they are? To read about one of the products, check out this site.

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