Question

Looking back at the procedure... We dissolved both sugar and your unknown compound in water at a high temperature. Upon cooling the flask your unknown compound precipitates from solution. What happened to the sugar and why doesn’t it precipitate from solution? Use the molecular structure of sugar to help justify your answer.

Answer 1

Sugar molecules do not precipitate from solution because they form hydrogen bonds with water molecules, which helps form the sucrose solution.

Step-by-step explanation:

Table sugar is sucrose (C₁2H22O₁1) and is an example of a molecular compound. When water dissolves sugar, it separates the individual sugar molecules by disrupting the attractive forces, but does not break the covalent bonds between the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. The sugar molecules contain many –OH groups that can form hydrogen bonds with the water molecules, helping form the sucrose solution.