Video Transcript
Complete the following equation:
ethane plus chlorine react to produce blank plus blank.
In order to identify the two
missing products in this reaction equation, let’s take a look at the reactants. The ending A-N-E tells us that
ethane is an alkane. Alkanes are saturated hydrocarbons
that only contain single covalent bonds. The stem eth- tells us that ethane
contains two carbon atoms. We can use all of this information
to draw the displayed formula of ethane.
In this reaction, ethane is reacted
with diatomic chlorine, a halogen. The reaction between an alkane and
an elemental halogen, such as fluorine, chlorine, or bromine, is a substitution
reaction. A substitution reaction is a type
of reaction where a part of a molecule is removed and replaced with something
else. In this reaction, a hydrogen atom
of the alkane is replaced by one of the halogen atoms. This produces a haloalkane and a
hydrogen halide.
Applying this to the reaction given
in the question, we know that one of ethane’s hydrogen atoms will be replaced with a
chlorine atom. This gives us a haloalkane and a
hydrogen halide. The haloalkane and has the same
structure as ethane, but one of the hydrogen atoms has been replaced with a chloro
group. Thus, this molecule is given the
name chloroethane. The hydrogen halide produced is
hydrogen chloride.
Therefore, the products of the
reaction between ethane and chlorine are chloroethane and hydrogen chloride.
