Skip to main content

What happens when you react liquid pentanol (C5H11OH) and gaseous oxygen?

One reaction of pentanol with gaseous oxygen is the combustion reaction. Combustion of pentanol is only possible in the presence of oxygen and flame. 


Complete combustion of pentanol will produce carbon dioxide and water. The reaction is written as:



`2 C_5 H_11 OH + 15 O_2 -> 10 CO_2 + 12 H_2 O. `


Incomplete combustion of pentanol happens when oxygen is the limiting reactant.  This happens when the supply of oxygen gas is poor. Consequently, the reaction will still produce H2O and but carbon monoxide and carbon is produced along with carbon dioxide.  


In normal atmospheric conditions (at room temperature and 1 atm), pentanol usually do not react with gaseous oxygen (O2) to form products. To oxidize pentanol, stronger oxidants are used such as potassium permanganate or chromic acid. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more