Page 76 - NCERT Science Class 10 English Medium
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We see that some substances are capable of adding oxygen to others.
These substances are known as oxidising agents.
Alkaline potassium permanganate or acidified potassium dichromate
are oxidising alcohols to acids, that is, adding oxygen to the starting
material. Hence they are known as oxidising agents.
4.3.3 Addition Reaction
Unsaturated hydrocarbons add hydrogen in the presence of catalysts
such as palladium or nickel to give saturated hydrocarbons. Catalysts
are substances that cause a reaction to occur or proceed at a different
rate without the reaction itself being affected. This reaction is commonly
used in the hydrogenation of vegetable oils using a nickel catalyst.
Vegetable oils generally have long unsaturated carbon chains while
animal fats have saturated carbon chains.
You must have seen advertisements stating that some vegetable oils
are ‘healthy’. Animal fats generally contain saturated fatty acids which
are said to be harmful for health. Oils containing unsaturated fatty acids
should be chosen for cooking.
4.3.4 Substitution Reaction
Saturated hydrocarbons are fairly unreactive and are inert in the presence
of most reagents. However, in the presence of sunlight, chlorine is added
to hydrocarbons in a very fast reaction. Chlorine can replace the hydrogen
atoms one by one. It is called a substitution reaction because one type
of atom or a group of atoms takes the place of another. A number of
products are usually formed with the higher homologues of alkanes.
CH + Cl → CH Cl + HCl (in the presence of sunlight)
4 2 3
Q U E S T I O N S
1. Why is the conversion of ethanol to ethanoic acid an oxidation reaction?
2. A mixture of oxygen and ethyne is burnt for welding. Can you tell why ?
a mixture of ethyne and air is not used?
4.4 SOME IMPORTANT CARBON COMPOUNDS ETHANOL
AND ETHANOIC ACID
Many carbon compounds are invaluable to us. But here we shall study
the properties of two commercially important compounds – ethanol and
ethanoic acid.
Carbon and its Compounds 71
2024-25