Name: Joshua B.

Dacles Date Performed: March 4, 2016

Course & Year: BSChE 3 Date Submitted: March 11, 2016

Experiment No. 5
Melting Point of Solids

I. Objectives:
1. To determine the melting point of a solid substance.
2. To compare the results of experimental data to the literature data.

II. Theory:
Melting point is the temperature at which a solid substance melts. It is also the
temperature where the solid and liquid forms of a pure substance can exist in equilibrium. When
heat is applied to solid substance, its temperature will also increase until its melting point is
reached. As the heating process continues, more heat will then be able to convert all solid to its
liquid form without changing the temperature.

The melting temperature of a solid is considered to be the same as its freezing point
of its liquid form. Conversely, in actual practices, the freezing point of a liquid substance may
not be equal to its melting point in solid form due to the characteristics of the liquid that enables
it to freeze in different crystal structures and also when the liquid contains impurities which
affect its freezing point.

This temperature is a physical property of a solid which can be used to identify

different substances. This physical property is used determine pure substances and elements. In
actual situations, a solid will usually starts to melt over a range of temperatures rather than at one
specific temperature. For example, when a substance melts over a small range of temperatures,
the substance is assumed to be relatively pure, while on the other hand, if it melts over a wide
range of temperatures, the substances is assumed to be relatively impure.

When a range of temperatures is greater than 2, it is considered to be impure, and

when we say impurities, these substances must be soluble in the solid because if not, they will
have no effect on the melting point of the solid such as insoluble impurities like dust. Other than
having a different range of temperatures, another way to determine whether a substance is pure
or not is by knowing that impure solids melts at temperatures which are lower compared to that
of the pure substance/compound. In general, an impure solid will melt over a wide range of
temperatures and at a temperature lower than that of the pure solid.

Nowadays, there are a number apparatus which are created to determine the melting
point a solid substance. Some of these apparatus is the Mel-Temp device and Thomas Hoover
Capillary Melting Point Apparatus. In this experiment, the latter is used, where the solid samples
are placed in the capillary tubes and is inserted into the apparatus.
III. Materials or Apparatus:

A. Materials:

Vanillin, Acetanilide, Phenacetin, Sulfanilamide, Sulfapyridine, Caffeine

B. Apparatus:

Thomas Hoover Capillary Melting Point Apparatus

Capillary tubes
Automatic Voltage Regulator

IV. Procedure:
Prior to the experiment, four (4) unknown samples, in powder form, of about 1mm to
2mm in length were prepared by placing them inside the capillary tubes. The samples were
labeled from number 1 to 4. We then, prepared the melting point apparatus and connected it to
the voltage regulator in its 110V socket.

This was necessary because the electricity source available in the laboratory has
220V which is not suited for the apparatus that only needed 120V of electrical power. We also
checked if both the equipments contains fuse to make sure they will function appropriately. After
that we placed three capillary tubes into the melting point apparatus and switched it on.

We then observed the powders inside the capillary tubes as the temperature rises
inside the apparatus, and then we recorded the temperature at which the powders started to melt
inside the tubes. For the two remaining samples, we used another Thomas Hoover melting point
apparatus since there were two apparatus available in the laboratory and another reason was that
because we must allow the apparatus to cool down after being used for the first samples so that
the heat of the apparatus will not affect the measurement of the melting point of the new set of
examples. The same process was conducted and then we recorded the corresponding melting
point temperatures of the samples. After gathering the data that we needed, we then let the
melting point apparatus to cool down by rubbing wet sponge on its walls to speed up its cooling
time.

V. Diagram:
Note: see attached page
VI. Data and Results:

Sample Experimental (T) Theoretical (T) % Difference

1 162 C 165 C - 166C 1.81 %

2 134C 134.5 C 136 C 0.37 %

3 110C 113.5 C 114.5 C 3.08 %

4 79C 80.5 C 83.0 C 1.86 %

5 234C 234.5 C 235.5 C 0.21 %

VII. Computations:

Sample 1:

165 162
% Difference = x 100 = 1.81 %
165

Sample 2:

134.5 134
% Difference = x 100 = 0.37 %
134.5

Sample 3:

113.5 110
% Difference = x 100 = 3.08 %
113.5

Sample 4:

80.5 79
% Difference = x 100 = 1.86 %
80.5

Sample 5:

234.5 2344
% Difference = x 100 = 0.21 %
234.5
VIII. Observations and Discussions of Results:
During the experiment I have observed that it was not simple to do the preparation of
the samples to be used in the experiment. One must be patient in placing the powder form sample
into the capillary tubes assigned to each of them. After we have gathered the needed materials
and apparatus to be used, we first tested the melting point apparatus if it is working properly;
therefore we tried to switch it on while being connected to a regulator whose voltage is 220V to a
source with the same voltage.

We first switched on the power of the regulator and followed by the melting point
apparatus but immediately after switching on the power of the apparatus, both the regulator and
apparatus loosed power. Then, we checked the fuse of the equipments and found out that the fuse
of the regulator was damaged while that of the apparatus was not. The reason behind was that the
regulator should have a socket of 110V because the voltage needed by the apparatus was only
120V, so together with our faculty in the laboratory; we borrowed another regulator from the
ECE department which is suited for the apparatus. After that, the apparatus functioned properly
together with the voltage regulator.

In this experiment, I have noticed that we should be a keen observer. One must have
good eyesight in order to avoid errors in the data. The observer must be able to determine
whether the samples in the capillary tubes will start to melt to know the correct temperature of
the samples as their melting point. We also have noticed that while the temperature of the
apparatus rises, its metal walls became hot as well thats why we rubbed the walls with a wet
sponge to neutralize the heat in the apparatus.

After the experiment ended and gathered the melting point of the unknown samples,
we searched the internet for the corresponding meting point of the solids mentioned in the
materials on the 2nd page to determine the name of the samples we used. Then, the results were:

Sample 1 = Sulfanilamide
Sample 2 = Phenacitin
Sample 3 = Acetanilide
Sample 4 = Vanillin
Sample 5 = Caffeine

Basing from what we have searched, it showed that the sample 4 which has the lowest
melting point is Vanillin with a melting point range of 80.5C to 83C and we obtained 79C as
its melting point from the experiment. The caffeine turns out to be the sample 5 which in retort
has the highest melting point among the samples given, 234.5C to 235.5C which is not quite
different from what we obtained from the experiment which is 234C and has a percent
difference of 0.21%. The melting point we obtained for the other samples had also very low
difference as compared to their theoretical melting point. Sample 1 has a percent difference of
1.81%, 0.37% for sample 2, and 3.08% for sample 3. Since the theoretical melting point that
were given to us were given in range of temperatures, we only used the lower range temperature
to use as the comparison to the data that we have gathered.
IX. Conclusion and Recommendation:
In this experiment, I can conclude that we were able to determine the melting point
temperature of the different samples prepared correctly. The theoretical/literature data that were
given to us does not have a big difference from what we have obtained experimentally since the
percent difference of the melting point in the theoretical to its experimental data did not exceed
above 5% . I can also conclude that the Thomas Hoover Melting Point Apparatus in the
laboratory is functioning properly. The results were quite accurate and that is because the
apparatus did its purpose correctly.

I recommend that in doing this experiment; make sure that the power source is suited
for the apparatus to prevent accidents. If there were no suited socket for the apparatus, use a
voltage regulator just like what we did in this experiment, but also take note that the regulator
should also be suited for the apparatus because if not, the equipments may damaged and will not
function properly which will results to error in the data later on. Lastly, I also recommend that
the laboratory must have extra fuses just in case the fuse will damage.

X. Applications:
The main application of determining the melting point of a specific substance is to tell
whether that substance is pure or otherwise. A pure substance generally has a melting range of
one or two degrees. When impurities are present, they tend to broaden the melting range so the
purified sample should have a higher and smaller meting point range that its impure sample. For
example, melting point should be known so it can provide details about the purity of the
substance where mixtures tend to melt at temperatures below the melting points of the pure
solids.

Melting a solid, such as a metal or plastic piece, is an extremely valuable means of

molding it into a desired a shape. The preparation of alloys involves the combining of metals
after they have been melted. Melting is a way by which some of these substances in the solid can
be separated from others. Materials with high melting points are valuable for making products
that need to resist high temperatures.

XI. References:
http://www.chem.umass.edu/~samal/269/mp.pdf

http://www.britannica.com/science/melting-point

http://www.wiredchemist.com/chemistry/instructional/laboratory-
tutorials/determination-of-melting-point

http://www.online-sciences.com/the-matter/what-is-the-melting-point-
and-life-applications-on-melting-process/