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Carbon Snake

Materials

• 100 or 150-mL beaker (tall form)
• sucrose to fill beaker 1/4 fulls
• conc. (18 M) sulfuric acid
• glass stirring rod
• large crystallization dish for overflow

Procedure

1. Add conc Sulfuric acid to beaker until it just covers the sugar and mix with the stirring rod. You may need to add a little more sulfuric acid.

2. When you feel the beaker heating up, stop stirring and put the beaker down in the crystallization dish.

3. Result should be a nice column of graphite.

Disposal

The graphite column is saturated with sulfuric acid. It should be placed in a bucket of water and the whole thing neutralized with sodium bicarbonate. Then it can be dumped down the sink.