Question

During a solvent extraction, a student lost track of which layer was the aqueous layer and which layer was the organic layer. What simple, non-destructive test could be used to determine which layer is which?

a. add a little distilled water to see which layer the water adds to

b. obtain a sample of the solution in the seperatory funnel and ultilize IR

c. ask the instructor if you can perform a supercritical extraction of the sample

c. obtain a sample of solution in seperatory funnel and utilize infrared spectroscopy (IR).

Answer 1

a. add a little-distilled water to see which layer the water adds to

depending density of organic solvent-water layer can be top or bottom when we add little water you can absorb water addition or repulsion which helps to identify water layer

Answer 2

a. add a little distilled water to see which layer the water adds to

Step-by-step explanation:

The problem tells us to keep in mind two major aspects of the test: It has to be simple, as well as non-destructive:

• Adding distilled water can be made in under a minute, without requiring specialized laboratory equipment, unlike IR.
• It is also non-destructive, because the contents on either layer won't change due to the added distilled water.