Chemistry Question (O Levels)

tanjun SG

A qn from my bro

Butan-2-ol is manufactured by the reaction between steam and butane.
Would you expect the manufacturers to use excess of steam or an excess of butane? Give a reason of your answer.

dbowie SG

i think its steam since u want butane…. and if u use excess steam butane is limiting factor…all butane will be used up then….... not very sure cuz this is my theory…

Darkness_hacker99 SG

Sure is Butane?

There is a huge difference between Butane and Butene.

Darkness_hacker99 SG

For me I’ll chose excess Steam. Because steam is more easier and safer to handle than butene. Excess butene are more very hazardous and might caused explosion when in contact with spark.

tanjun SG

The original qn is typed in this way. Maybe the question is referring to butene instead of butane.

lpx88 SG

O ya how u find out which is the limiting factor in a reaction ah?How to tell from a given equation?

hisoka SG

steam lah. its cheaper and you can reuse the steam to heat the water up again to get steam Laughing

jay_rocks SG

steam is my final ans. nid more butane means nid more steam. dunno if its liddat. a long time since i last touch chem

^tamago^ SG

yes by equation and mol calculations to determine.

teraexa SG

my hunch would be steam, because it’s cheaper.

tanjun SG

Thank everyone for the contributions.

kristovorus SG

i would advise people to not use cost as a factor for such chemistry questions. even in electrolysis of aluminium, cryolite is used, not just to reduce the cost of the process but rather, reduce energy usage ( which is the mark awarding factor; not cost )

instead of saying steam is cheaper ; etc etc, say that butene is obtained from crude oil which is non-renewable, hence finite in quantity. as steam is easily obtained (being abundant and renewable) it is used in excess instead

hisoka SG

given that they said to explain the manufacturer's decision, cost would be the more correct answer.

of course they could be pulling some crap and decide to use the wrong answers as model.

^tamago^ SG

Cost, convenience and opportunity for reuse is the deciding factor. This is the model answer.

hisoka SG

well he does have apoint given that the answers are set by the teacher or department......

tanjun SG

Thanks everyone for their contributions regarding about the above qns.

Another qn from my bro
Why is electrolysis of concentrated hydorchloric acid not used for the manufacture of chlorine?

Does anyone know how chlorine is manufactured industrially?

Lol. I have forgotton my sec sch chemistry. Laughing

AndrewPKYap SG

steam is free but butane cost money and steam is safe but butane is dangerous Laughing