Question

Write three uses of each wood charcoal and sugar charcoal.

Answer 1

Charcoal

• Charcoal is one of the amorphous forms of elemental $\mathrm{Carbon}\left(\mathrm{C}\right)$.
• Charcoal is black, soft and porous material.
• Charcoal is formed by heating the $\mathrm{Carbon}$ containing substances such as sugar, bones, and wood in the absence of air.
• The process of breaking down of $\mathrm{Carbon}$ containing substances by heating in the absence of air is known as destructive distillation.
• During this process, gases and volatile matters are escaped and left behind in Charcoal only.
• There are 3 types of charcoal -wood charcoal, sugar charcoal, and bone charcoal.

Wood charcoal

• Wood charcoal is formed by heating the wood in the absence of air.
• During this process gases such as $\mathrm{Carbon}\mathrm{dioxide}\left({\mathrm{CO}}_2\right),\mathrm{Carbon}\mathrm{monoxide}\left(\mathrm{CO}\right),\mathrm{Methane}\left({\mathrm{CH}}_4\right)\mathrm{and}\mathrm{Hydrogen}\left({\mathrm{H}}_2\right)$.
• This mixture of gases is combustible in nature and they are collectively called wood gas.

Uses of wood charcoal

• Wood charcoal is used in gas masks for the removal of toxic components from the air.
• Wood charcoal is a better fuel than wood because it burns much better and also reduces pollution.
• It is used to make a gun powder that is used in guns and also as a blasting agent in mining.

Sugar charcoal

• Sugar charcoal is formed by the heating of cane sugar in the absence of air.
• It is also formed by the dehydrating cane sugar with concentrated $\mathrm{Sulphuric}\mathrm{acid}\left({\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4\right)$.

$\underset{\mathrm{Sugar}\mathrm{cane}}{{\mathrm{C}}_{12}{\mathrm{H}}_{22}{\mathrm{O}}_{11}}\stackrel{\mathrm{Con}.{\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{SO}}_4}{\to }\underset{\mathrm{Sugar}\mathrm{charcoal}}{12\mathrm{C}}+11\underset{\mathrm{Water}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}$

Uses of sugar charcoal

• It is used as a reducing agent in the process of extraction of metals.
• it is converted into an artificial diamond.
• They are used as a decolorizing agent, especially used to decolorize sugar cane solution.