blog post 7

Today during class my class completed the process of making the biodiesel ready to be inserted into the bus diesel engine. We only made 2 bottles of bio-diesel when all together we need 8 bottles for our class so we need to stay after on tuesday to complete the rest of the process.

The whole class was divided into 3 groups. First group poured exactly 1L of oil into each bottle. Second group measured 12 grams of sodium hydroxide. The third group handled methanol. Once the oil was poured in every bottle, everyone got a jar of methanol. We each added sodium hydroxide into the jar and mixed them together. The jar soon turned warm from the chemical reaction. We had to shake the jar until all the sodium hydroxide dissolved. This process created methoxide. After that, the methoxide was poured into each bottle. The bottle was flipped upside down 8 times and placed upside down in its own beaker. I learned that sodium hydroxide and methanol can be very deadly and that we must be careful at all times. I thought about how the liquid in the bottle would look tomorrow and if we succesfully accomplished the task.