10.2.

3 Lab - Cracking paraffin

You are going to crack (thermally decompose) the longer-chain alkanes in liquid paraffin to produce
shorter-chain alkanes and alkenes. You will need to work with a partner.

Apparatus
delivery tube and bung

Bunsen burner

boiling tube containing mineral wool

porous pot

liquid paraffin

clamp and stand

washing-up bowl

heat resistant mat

3 test tubes and bungs

test-tube rack

teat pipette

dilute bromine water

eye protection

Health and safety

Wear eye protection

When you put the delivery tube into the boiling tube, hold the boiling tube near the open end in one
hand, and the bung of the delivery tube in the other make sure the bung is pushed firmly in

Paraffin and the product gases are harmful and highly flammable keep them away from flames

Only heat the boiling tube at the bottom and in the middle do not heat the clamp

Take the delivery tube out of the water before you stop heating it

Bromine water is harmful

Method
A Put some mineral wool in the sealed end of a
boiling tube.
B Soak the mineral wool in paraffin using a teat
pipette, but do not add more than the wool can
soak up.
C Clamp the boiling tube horizontally, placing
the clamp at the mouth of the tube.
D Put some porous pot in the middle of the tube. This provides a larger hot surface for the
decomposition to take place on.
E Fit a delivery tube into the boiling tube leading to a bowl of water. The end of the delivery tube must be
under water.
F Fill a test tube with water and hold it upside down in the water. You should not have any air in the
tube.
G Heat the porous pot and the paraffin, but hold the Bunsen burner flame mainly under the porous pot.
Do not heat the clamp.
H As gas is produced, collect it using test tubes of water as shown, one after another. Do not collect the
first few bubbles. When a tube is nearly full of gas, put a bung in it before you remove it from the
water.
I

Collect two or three tubes of gas in total. Keep the bunged tubes in a test tube rack.

Lift the delivery tube out of the water before you stop heating this is to stop suck back.

K Test some of the original liquid paraffin and some of the gas you collected to see if either contains
unsaturated molecules. This can be done by adding a few drops of bromine water to each and
shaking the stoppered tube.

10.2.3 Lab - Cracking paraffin

Recording your results
1

What happened when bromine water was added to liquid paraffin and shaken?

b What does this tell you about liquid paraffin ?

2

What happened when bromine water was shaken with the gas produced?

b What does this tell you about the gas produced?

3

Why must the paraffin be heated strongly?

Suggest why the first few bubbles of gas were not collected.