[Student1994]

Had an issue with identifying the second liquid in my fractional distillation. Here is the list of options
Liquid               Boiling Point (C)
Ethyl Acetate   77.1
Cylcohexane   82
4-methyl-1-hexane   87
isopropyl methyl ketone   94
Water   100
3-methylcyclohexane   104

First liquid was ethyl acetate, second was more confusing. here is results.
mL Reached       Temperature in C
1                      77.2
2                      77.5
3                      78
3.5                   81
4.5                    81
6.5                    83
7.5                    85
8                       86
8.5                     87
9.5        90.5
11.5        99
12        101.5
13.5       104
16        105
17         104.5

[kriggy]

What is your opininon on this task?

[Arkcon]

What can you exclude for the second one?  What can't you exclude, and why?

[orgopete]

You could try plotting the vol vs bp and look for plateaus. (The nomenclature needs correction also.)

[Student1994]

What can you exclude for the second one?  What can't you exclude, and why?

I can exclude water because it forms an azeotrope and i know its not one. Other than that I am not sure

[Arkcon]

I can exclude water because it forms an azeotrope and i know its not one. Other than that I am not sure

You may not exclude water for that reason, because your definition doesn't make sense.   An azeotrope is a constant boiling mixture of 2 (example ethanol and water) or more (example ethanol-water-benzene) substances.  So saying water forms an azeotrope makes as much sense as.

That's not a typo by me, I deliberately left the conclusion off to make a point.

OK, you've been on this board for a while, and surely you've been told to read the Forum Rules{click}, we want to see your attempt.   

Sometimes, like this time, we still have to explain what we mean by that.  You've given a list of substances and their boiling points, and you have some temperature readings.  If you can exclude some, then you should do so, before you ask your question, if you don't, then you obviously haven't tried to solve the problem at all. 

Which of your possible substances has a boiling point that doesn't appear in your experimental results?  You can strik that one off your list.  This is how you start to solve this problem.

[Student1994]

I can exclude water because it forms an azeotrope and i know its not one. Other than that I am not sure

You may not exclude water for that reason, because your definition doesn't make sense.   An azeotrope is a constant boiling mixture of 2 (example ethanol and water) or more (example ethanol-water-benzene) substances.  So saying water forms an azeotrope makes as much sense as.

That's not a typo by me, I deliberately left the conclusion off to make a point.

OK, you've been on this board for a while, and surely you've been told to read the Forum Rules{click}, we want to see your attempt.   

Sometimes, like this time, we still have to explain what we mean by that.  You've given a list of substances and their boiling points, and you have some temperature readings.  If you can exclude some, then you should do so, before you ask your question, if you don't, then you obviously haven't tried to solve the problem at all. 

Which of your possible substances has a boiling point that doesn't appear in your experimental results?  You can strik that one off your list.  This is how you start to solve this problem.

No need for you to be so condescending and elitist. The original list was three times as long, it has been narrowed down. Additionally, I know what an azeotrope is. One of the givens is that the mixture is not an azeotrope. Water and ethyl acetate form an azeotrope. I know that an azeotrope is a mix of two with a single bp. If you actually read about the experiment you would realize that the whole point is to seperate a mix of DISTINCT bps.

[curiouscat]

First liquid was ethyl acetate,

How did you figure that out? Can you elaborate?