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Magical Boiling Flask

  • Page ID
    131406
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    Required Training

    Required PPE

    UC Lab Safety Fundamentals

    Lab coat, safety glasses/goggles

    Equipment

    Chemicals

    500 mL Erlenmeyer flask, double-walled

    100 mL water

    Hot plate

    Ice bath

    Rubber stopper, size 7

    Boiling chips

    Wood Block

    Thermally insulated gloves

    Optional—hard-boiled egg

    Procedure:

    1. Pour the water into the flask and add a few boiling chips.
    2. Set the flask on the hot plate and heat at the hottest setting for quickest set-up time.
    3. Once the water is boiling, stopper the flask and move it off the heat and on to the wood block.
    4. Allow the water to cool until it stops boiling (usually about a minute).
    5. Cool the flask in the ice bath by placing it sideways and rotating it constantly.
    6. Watch the water boil again.

    Discussion:

    This is a simple demonstration of gas laws. As we cool the hot water vapor in the air space above the water, it condenses and lowers the pressure of the system. At a lower pressure, the water has enough heat to boil again.

    Hazards:

    Be cautious as straying from the above sizes has not been thoroughly tested. Varying the sizes used may produce a vacuum high enough to implode the glass. The boiling water is hot enough to burn and the flask containing it is equally hot—use leather gloves or other thermally insulated PPE.

    SOP

    N/A

    Disposal (by Storeroom)

    This demonstration should not produce any waste. If the glass should break, clean it up as a physical hazard


    Magical Boiling Flask is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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