Question

Name the products formed and give appropriate chemical equations for the following:

1. Sodium reacting with ethyl alcohol
2. Ethanol oxidized by acidified potassium dichromate.

Answer 1

Chemical equations are symbolic representations of chemical processes that express the reactants and products in terms of their chemical formulas.

(a) With the emission of hydrogen gas ($H_2$), the Sodium ($Na$) metal combines with Ethyl alcohol ($C_2{H}_{5}OH$) to produce Sodium ethanoate ($C_2{H}_{5}ONa$) as a primary product. Because Sodium ($Na$) is a highly reactive metal, it produces heat as it reacts, making it an exothermic reaction. Chemical equation for the above is given as

$\underset{Ethylalcohol}{C_2{H}_{5}OH\left(aq\right)}+\underset{Sodium}{Na\left(s\right)}\to \underset{Sodiumethanoate}{C_2{H}_{5}ONa}+\underset{Hydrogen}{H_2\left(g\right)}$

Ethanol ($C_2{H}_{5}OH$) interacts with Sodium ($Na$) to generate sodium Ethanoate ($C_2{H}_{5}ONa$) and Hydrogen gas ($H_2$) in this process.

(b) Ethanol is an alcohol. It's also known as ethyl alcohol. It has two carbon ($C$) atoms in the ethyl group and one in the hydroxyl group.
Potassium dichromate ($K_{2}C{r}_2{O}_7$) that has been acidified is a powerful oxidizer. It converts Ethanol ($C_2{H}_{5}OH$) to acetaldehyde ($C{H}_{3}CHO$) by oxidizing it.
Ethanal is the IUPAC term for Acetaldehyde ($C{H}_{3}CHO$). A molecule of hydrogen is lost during the oxidation of ethanol to ethanal, and a Carbon ($C$)-Oxygen ($O_2$) single bond is transformed to a Carbon-Oxygen double bond ($C=O$). The hydroxyl group of alcohol is transformed to the carbonyl group of aldehyde during this reaction.
In the presence of acidified Potassium dichromate ($K_{2}C{r}_2{O}_7$), the oxidation of Ethanol ($C_2{H}_{5}OH$) does not halt at the aldehyde stage. Ethanal ($C_2{H}_{5}OH$) is transformed to Ethanoic acid ($C{H}_{3}COOH$) after additional oxidation. Chemical equation for the above is given as

$\underset{Ethylalcohol}{C_2{H}_{5}OH\left(aq\right)}+\underset{AcidifiedPotassiumdichromate}{K_{2}C{r}_2{O}_7/H^{+}}\to \underset{Acetaldehyde}{C{H}_{3}CHO\left(l\right)}\to \underset{Ethanoicacid}{C{H}_{3}COOH\left(l\right)}$