Carbon column

Health & Safety notes
Eye protection for all.
This reaction should be carried out in a well-ventilated area.

All this requires an in-house risk analysis procedure to be carried out. Take suitable precautions. Do not rely on what is said here.
Read our standard health & safety notes.

Notes on demonstration
This demonstration shows the use of concentrated sulphuric acid as a dehydrating agent at KS5.

This demonstration could be used to show that sugars are made from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen at other Key Stages, since the products are carbon and steam (water).

Procedure

1 Place 70g sucrose in a glass beaker (250-ml) on a heat-resistant mat.

2 Add 70 ml concentrated sulphuric acid and stir quickly with a glass rod.

The mixture will begin to steam and a column of graphite will grow out of the beaker.

Sucrose becomes carbon plus water.

Disposal
The carbon column will be saturated with sulphuric acid. Neutralise with sodium hydrogen carbonate and flush down the drain with excess water.

Last updated: 31 January 2008