KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY CHEMISTRY

SEMESTER ONE, YEAR ONE

PRACTICAL REPORT

LECTURER NAME: MR OLADO SIMO PETER

STUDENT NAME: ODONGO TONNY

REG. NO: 18/U/CTD/269/GV

Date of submission: 15/10/2018

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Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of structure and bonding on
molecules and the objectives of the experiment were to test for the miscibility of liquids and
their solubility. The experiment was a success, and it was realised that Liquids of similar inter
molecular forces of attraction are most likely to form a uniform solution and liquids of different
inter molecular forces do not form uniform solution. Substances that are non polar dissolve non
polar solvents, and molecules that have both polar and non polar properties such as glycerol are
most likely not to dissolve in different solvents. Thus, it was shown that structure and bonding
affect the miscibility and solubility of molecules.

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Title:

Experiment to demonstrate the effect of structure and bonding on molecules

Introduction

Most of the physical and chemical properties of a substance can be related to the type of bonding
present in that substance. Substances that are ionically bonded contained positive and negative
ions. Substances that are covalently bonded contain molecules; if the molecules contain atoms of
different sorts, they may be polar due to the equal sharing of electrons between the different
atoms. The amount of polarity in a molecule, determined by the shape of the molecule and the
relative electronegativity of the atoms in it, has a great effect on the properties of the substance.

Background

A chemical bond is a lasting attraction between atoms, ions or molecules that enables the
formation of chemical compounds. The bond may result from the electrostatic force of attraction
between oppositely charged ions as in ionic bonds or through the sharing of electrons as in
covalent bonds. The strength of chemical bonds varies considerably; there are "strong bonds" or
"primary bonds" such as covalent, ionic and metallic bonds, and "weak bonds" or "secondary
bonds" such as dipole–dipole interactions, the London dispersion force and hydrogen bonding.

All bonds can be explained by quantum theory, but, in practice, simplification rules allow
chemists to predict the strength, directionality, and polarity of bonds. The octet rule theory is one
example. More sophisticated theories are valence bond theory which includes orbital
hybridization and resonance, and molecular orbital theory which includes linear combination of
atomic orbitals and ligand field theory. Electrostatics is used to describe bond polarities and the
effects they have on chemical substances.

Solubility is the property of a solid, liquid or gaseous chemical substance called solute to
dissolve in a solid, liquid or gaseous solvent. The solubility of a substance fundamentally
depends on the physical and chemical properties of the solute and solvent as well as on
temperature, pressure and presence of other chemicals (including changes to the pH) of the
solution. Insolubility is the inability to dissolve in a solid, liquid or gaseous solvent. Most often,
the solvent is a liquid, which can be a pure substance or a mixture, and miscibility is defined as
how easily substances will mix and dissolve into one another.

The extent of solubility ranges widely, from infinitely soluble (without limit) (fully miscible)
such as ethanol in water, to poorly soluble, such as silver chloride in water.

In chemistry, polarity is a separation of electric charge leading to a molecule or its chemical

groups having an electric dipole moment, with a negatively charged end and a positively charged
end.

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Polar molecules must contain polar bonds due to a difference in electronegativity between the
bonded atoms. A polar molecule with two or more polar bonds must have a geometry which is
asymmetric in at least one direction, so that the bond dipoles do not cancel each other.

Polar molecules interact through dipole–dipole intermolecular forces and hydrogen bonds.
Polarity underlies a number of physical properties including surface tension, solubility, and
melting and boiling points.

A popular aphorism used for predicting solubility is "like dissolves like" This statement indicates
that a solute will dissolve best in a solvent that has a similar chemical structure to itself. This
view is simplistic, but it is a useful rule of thumb. The overall solvation capacity of a solvent
depends primarily on its polarity. For example, a very polar (hydrophilic) solute such as urea is
very soluble in highly polar water, less soluble in fairly polar methanol, and practically insoluble
in non-polar solvents such as benzene. In contrast, a non-polar or lipophilic solute such as
naphthalene is insoluble in water, fairly soluble in methanol, and highly soluble in non-polar
benzene.

Molecular polarity related to solubility in that “Like dissolves like”. Polar substances tend to
dissolve in polar solvents, and nonpolar substances dissolve in nonpolar solvents. Non-polar
solutes such as I2 do not dissolve in polar solvents like water because the I 2, having just London
dispersion forces, are unable to compete with the strong attraction that the polar solvent
molecules have for each other. Polar and ionic solutes do not dissolve in non-polar solvents
because they have a stronger attraction for each other than for the non-polar solvent molecules.

Iodine is a non-polar molecule because the iodine-iodine bond is a pure covalent bond. The
difference in electronegativity between the two Iodine atoms is zero. In solid I 2, I2 molecules are
attracted to other I2 molecules by developing temporary partial positive and partial negative areas
around the molecule and are attracted to the temporary partial positive and partial negative areas
around other I2 molecules, i.e. London dispersion forces.

Petroleum spirit is non-polar because the electronegativity difference between the hydrogen and
carbon atoms is very small, ∆EN = 0.4 and ∆EN between the carbon and carbon atoms is zero.

For alcohol only the three lightest alcohols (methanol, ethanol, and n-propanol) are completely
miscible with water. As the molecular mass of the alcohol increases, so does the proportion of
hydrocarbon in the molecule. Correspondingly, the importance of hydrogen bonding and dipole–
dipole interactions in the pure alcohol decreases, while the importance of London dispersion
forces increases, which leads to progressively fewer favorable electrostatic interactions with
water. Organic liquids such as acetone, and ethanol, are sufficiently polar to be completely
miscible with water yet sufficiently nonpolar to be completely miscible with all organic solvents.

Water is a polar molecule because the electronegativity difference between the hydrogen and
oxygen atoms is medium, 0.9. The hydrogen bonded to the oxygen atom develops a partial

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positive charge because the oxygen being more electronegative is pulling electron density away
from hydrogen. This partial positive charge is attracted to the partial negative charge on an
oxygen atom of a neighboring water molecule. Water is capable of forming hydrogen bonds
between water molecules. Hydrogen bonds are a relative strong intermolecular force of
attraction.

Polarity is caused by Electronegativity of atoms in the bond; some atoms are more polar than
others due to the fact that they are more "greedy" for electrons. If solute and solvent have
approximately the same polarity, they will probably form a solution. Thus, polarity affects
solubility.

Main objectives

 To demonstrate the effect of structure and bonding in molecules

Specific objectives

 To test the miscibility of liquids

 To test the solubility of iodine in different liquids

Requirements

 7 test tubes

 30ml ethanol

 30ml distilled water

 Iodine crystals

 30ml petroleum spirit

 30ml acetone

 10ml glycerol

Procedures;

For miscibility of liquids

 5ml of Water was put in a test tube and 5ml of ethanol added. The mixture was allowed to
stand for half a minute and the miscibility noted.

 The above procedure was repeated for water and petroleum spirit, ethanol and petroleum
spirit, acetone and ethanol, petroleum spirit and acetone, water and iodine, ethanol and

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 iodine, and petroleum spirit and iodine, glycerol and water, glycerol and petroleum spirit,
and glycerol and acetone. The miscibility in each case was noted.

Solubility of iodine in different liquids

 A very small crystals of iodine was put in a test tube and 5ml of water added to it

 The test tube was shaken and the solubility of iodine in water noted.

 The above procedure was repeated for iodine and ethanol, petroleum spirit and iodine,
and iodine and acetone. The solubility was noted in each case.

Table of results

For solubility of iodine

Test Observations Conclusion

Iodine and Did not dissolve Insoluble
water

Iodine and Dissolved to form Brown solution Soluble

ethanol

Iodine and Dissolved to form purple solution Soluble

spirit

Iodine and Dissolved to form brown solution Soluble

acetone

For miscibility

Test Observation Conclusion

Water and ethanol Form uniform solution Miscible

Water and spirit Form two layers of solutions Immiscible

Spirit and ethanol Form two layers of solution Immiscible

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Acetone and ethanol Form uniform solution Miscible

Acetone and spirit Form uniform solution Miscible

Iodine and water Form two layers of solution Immiscible

Acetone and iodine Form uniform solution Miscible

Glycerol and water Form uniform solution Miscible

Glycerol and acetone Form two layers of solutions Immiscible

Glycerol and spirit Form two layers of solutions Immiscible

Acetone and water Form uniform solution Miscible

Iodine and ethanol Form uniform solution Miscible

Discussion

Ethanol and water are miscible, since both are polar.The molecules of ethanol are attracted to each
other by H-bonding, and the molecules of water are attracted to each other by H-bonding. Because the
attractions between the molecules are similar, the molecules can mix freely with each other. Water and
ethanol are miscible in all proportions.

Glycerol has both polar and non polar properties therefore when mixed with all the solvents it is
mixed with i.e. water, petroleum spirit and acetone, it is immiscible.

Water is a polar molecule and when glycerol is added to water, glycerol through its polar
properties forms hydrogen bonds with water but due to the steric hinderance which is brought
about by the hydrocarbon chain´s inability to attach itself to the water molecules, the glycerol
molecules are not miscible in the water molecules.

Petroleum spirit is immiscible in ethanol and in water. Ethanol and water is polar and petroleum
spirit is non polar. Water and ethanol molecule are held together by strong hydrogen bonds which
cannot be easily overcome by the weak forces of attraction between the petroleum spirit
molecules for it to dissolve in ethanol and water to form homogeneous solutions.

Acetone and petroleum spirit are miscible, since they are all polar molecules.

Acetone and ethanol are sufficiently polar to be completely miscible with water yet sufficiently nonpolar
to be completely miscible with all organic solvents.

Iodine is soluble in petroleum solution because both are non polar substances hence new weak
intermolecular forces of attraction are formed between iodine and petroleum spirit.

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Non-polar Iodine is not very soluble in water. An intermolecular bond between an induced dipole (I 2) and
a polar bond in water is not very strong compared to the hydrogen bonds in water. The water molecules
would rather remain hydrogen bonded to each other, than to allow an iodine molecule come between
them. This is because it is made of two identical iodine atoms which means that the electron density on
both of the poles is the same (equal amount) for a substance to be polar it must have a considerable
excess density of electrons on one side compared to the other side ( unequal amount) and because
iodine is non-polar, it can't dissolve in polar based water. polar only dissolves polar compounds.

Iodine is miscible in ethanol. Ethanol has a hydrocarbon chain which is non polar. Dispersion
forces among the non polar molecules are which provides more protons to attract to the
electrons.

Iodine and glycerol donnot mix well despite glycerol having non polar chains. Glycerol has a
strong network of hydrogen bonds between themselves preventing steric hinderances for iodine
to attract the hydrocarbon branches via dispersion.

Ethanol and acetone are less polar than water, Iodine was more soluble in them than it was in water
because they are less polar than water.

In summary, the solubility of iodine decreased as the polarity of the solvent increased.

Conclusion

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of structure and bonding on
molecules In order to do so, the miscibility of liquids and their solubility was tested for. The
experiment was a success, and it was realised that Liquids of similar inter molecular forces of
attraction are most likely to form a uniform solution and liquids of different inter molecular
forces do not form uniform solution. Substances that are non polar dissolve non polar solvents,
and molecules that have both polar and non polar properties such as glycerol are most likely not
to dissolve in different solvents.

Sources of errors

 Environmental factors such as temperature could have affected the results, as solubility of
compounds is affected by temperature.
 One other inherent error was measuring out drops of solution into test tubes .It was hard
to be certain that the correct amount of solution was in the test tube because there was no
measuring cylinder used.
 During any part, there could have been cross contamination of solutions, especially
because in some parts of the experiment, the same dropper was used.
 Another source of error was mislabeling. If the test tubes were either labelled incorrectly
for the present solution or not labelled at all, the outcome of the experiment could be
completely different.
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  Use of tap water instead of distilled water brought the inaccuracies as tap water contain
impurities.

Recommendation

 Stickers should be provided in the laboratory so that the test tubes can easily be labelled
for identification when carrying out experiment.
 Environmental factors such temperature has to be accounted for. Experiment should be
conducted under standard conditions.
 Distilled water should be provided in the laboratory to ensure correctness, as the
experiment demanded the use of distilled water.
 Many droppers should be provided in the laboratory to prevent sharing of droppers when
drawing a liquid.

References

1. Pauling, L. (1960). The Nature of the Chemical Bond (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
pp. 98–100.

2. Pauling, L. (1960). The Nature of the Chemical Bond (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
p. 66.

3. https://chemdemos.uoregon.edu/demos/Solutions-Like-Dissolves-Like-Solubility-and-
Intermolecular-Forces

4. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscibility

5. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solubility

6. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_bond