its Alumina , not aluminum
Quote: | So does heating vermiculite make it react?? Or more precisely, i take it from the above that vermiculite is not the completely inert stuff i thought
it was? |
it does not react.It acts the same way as alumina,like a bed on which the alcohol lies down so that it can get a good grip on the OH molecules.Then it
rips them out and the H+ flies away as H2.It can do this because it has a lot of empty spaces(valencies) in its structure which form
temporary bonds(intercalates) with the OH.The spaces increase on heating due to expansion and since its hydrous,the water gets kicked out freeing up
more space.Its kind of like waxing actually,where the skin is the compound you want to convert to alkene,the hair the OH and the tape the "bed" .Even the name of this phenomenon is a term used in skin care - exfoliation
[Edited on 20-10-2017 by CuReUS] |