Density Of Fractions Lab Report

The density of fractions 1, 2, and 3 are as follows: 1.49, 1.325, and 1.34 g/mL. These values areincorrect because the density should not have been over 1.0 g/mL. This is because the density of water is 1.0 g/mL, and the product should have had a mixture of ethanol and water, making the density lower. The measured weight of the vials and ethanol were incorrect due the scales.There are many factors that can cause a scale not to read the correct value. The first is the airflow underneath the weighing plate majorly affects the values read. For instance, if there is a draft underneath the plate, the plate will shift and the weight will be read incorrectly. The second effect on the scale is temperature. When the temperature changes, the plate is affected and the reading is wrong.
The third effect on the scale is when the scale is tared.
If the scale is tared when the vial is alone, and then tared again before it is weighed with the ethanol, the conditions will be different. This means the scale will have recorded a different temperature and air flow than the original weighing. The recorded weight will not be accurate. These conditions need to stay constant with the scale in order to get an accurate reading, and for the data above, the scale did not read accurately. These inaccurate readings prevented the rest of the calculations to be done.The technique is important because it can be used to break down sugars in the body without oxygen. This is useful because our bodies can still break down sugar for energy without the presence of oxygen (Morton, 1980). A practical application of this technique is in the kitchen.Ethanol fermentation allows bread and dough to rise. When the yeast breaks down the sugar
in the dough, ethanol and carbon dioxide is produced. The carbon dioxide in the dough creates space and forces the dough to rise.The first improvement to this experiment would be to tare the scale one time. Doing this would set the conditions on the scale, and those conditions would remain consistent the next time a vial was weighed. The weight would be more accurate and result in a more accurate density. The second improvement would be to actually calculate the percent ethanol in the fractions. Looking off a graph is not an accurate percentage. This would result in the amount of ethanol per fraction to be much more accurate. The third improvement would be to let the ethanol evaporate longer to ensure that all the ethanol is extracted. This would make the percent yield higher.Conclusion:The experiment was a failure because the scales read incorrect values, causing the densities to be too high, and therefore preventing any other calculations to be done.