Alcohols and Carboxylic Acids

Lab Brief #5

🎯 Your mission

Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.

⚡ The twist

Nature loves to surprise the careful watcher.

What you'll learn

Alcohols contain the −OH group and are named with the ending -ol. They burn, react with sodium, and oxidise to carboxylic acids, which contain −COOH and end in -oic acid. Ethanol oxidising to ethanoic acid is why wine turns to vinegar.

Key words

functional group
The atom group that gives a family of organic compounds its characteristic reactions.
carboxylic acid
An organic acid containing the −COOH group.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you start: write down what you think will happen, and why.

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

dilute ethanol
dilute ethanoic acid
universal indicator
sodium carbonate
test tubes
spotting tile

Get ready

⚠️ Safety first

Ethanol is highly flammable — no flames during this practical.
Waft vapours towards your nose with a hand; never inhale directly from a tube.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "functional group" and "carboxylic acid" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Test ethanol and ethanoic acid solutions with universal indicator, with sodium carbonate, and by smell wafted carefully. Tabulate the results and use them to identify the functional group in an unknown.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

The functional group in alcohols is:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

Oxidising ethanol produces:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🔬 The more you look, the more nature shows you.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

Next: Addition Polymerisation All lessons

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✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This shows up in your everyday life more than you'd think.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Try one experiment in real life this week — even a tiny one.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's the most surprising thing you learned today?”

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