Experiment: To prepare ethene

and examine its properties

Ethene gas is prepared by dehydrating ethanol (drug found in alcoholic
drinks). Ethene is a colourless gas with a sweet smell. It is a insoluble in
water but can dissolve in organic solvents.

Main Chemicals required

Ethanol CH3CH2OH

Aluminum Oxide Al2O3

Procedure:

1. Pour a small amount of ethanol into a boiling tube.

2. Push in a piece of glass wool to soaked up in ethanol.

3. Set up the apparatus with about 2g of aluminium oxide halfway along the
boiling tube.
4. Heat the aluminium oxide and occasionally heating the ethanol gently. The
ethanol then changes to vapour, passes over the hot aluminium oxide and is
dehydrated to produce ethene gas.
5. Let the first few bubbles produced escape for a short time as this is mainly
air. Then Collect 5 test tubes of the gas and put a stopper on each tube when
it is filled.
6. When the reaction has concluded, remove the delivery tube from the
water first before turning off the bunsen burner. This is to prevent suck back.

Combustion Test
The gas burns with a luminous flame.
Adding limewater to the test-tube turns limewater milky. This shows that
carbon dioxide was formed when ethene burns in air.

Addition of Bromine Test

Bromine water turns from yellow/red colour to colourless.
The decolorisation of bromine is the standart test for unsaturation in a
compound.
Addition of Potassium Permanganate (KMnO ) Test

Purple colour to colourless.

This is also used to test for presence of a C=C double bond (unsaturation)

Properties of Ethene (ethylene)

Colourless gas at room temperature and pressure

Melting point -169oC

Boiling point -104oC

Slightly sweet smell

Flammable

Non-polar molecule

Soluble in non-polar solvents & insoluble in polar solvents like water

Reactive: the active site is the double bond

Readily undergoes addition reactions, for example

Reacts with bromine water (red-brown) to produce colourless 1,2dibromoethane

CH2=CH2(g) + Br2(l) -----> CH2Br-CH2Br(g)