Question
Instead of using steel wool (see the purpose of the steel wool in Procedure Part I) as column filling, you prepare a fractionating column by filling the condenser in your lab drawer with glass beads. The glassware in the teaching lab is not entirely uniform from one student drawer to the next, and you notice that when your neighbor packs his condenser with glass beads, he is able to fit a lot fewer beads Into the condenser than you are. Whose column will be more efficient as a fractionating column, and why?
Explanation / Answer
The student who is able to fill more glass beads will have a better fractionating column in terms of efficiency, because more glass beads means that the surface area will be higher as compared to smaller beads with same combined volume.