Exhibition chemistry

Demonstrating the heating curve of tert-butanol

By 2022-06-13T08:45:00

Chemistry equipment with a data logger, thermometer and a laptop recording an increasing temperature on a graph

Source: © Declan Fleming

Use this to effectively show your students two changes of state in one experiment

This is a common secondary science lesson which involves exploring heating or cooling curves, with a focus on changes of state. Although it’s fairly simple to derive a cooling curve involving a solidification, you can demonstrate two changes of state in one experiment heating a solid. Here, chemistry teacher and author of our Exhibition chemistry column, Declan Fleming, explains and demonstrates how you can use tert-butanol to do so. He also explains that raising the internal energy of the substance can lead to changes in the kinetic energy of its particles as well as in their potential energy.

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