Chemistry - Choosing The Right Condenser
Answer : Solution 1: @Mart 's comment impelled me to return to this question and correct my answer. I've deleted incorrect material and expanded the discussion to, hopefully, provide correct information. There is a good discussion (better than the reference previously cited) of the issue here. Reflux is the process of boiling reactants while continually cooling the vapor returning it back to the flask as a liquid. It is used to heat a mixture for extended periods and at certain temperatures...A condenser is attached to the boiling flask, and cooling water is circulated to condense escaping vapors. If you are refluxing a mixture, as you might in organic synthesis to increase the speed of the reaction by doing it at a higher temperature (i.e., the boiling point of the solvent), then any of the condensers that worked well enough to avoid the loss of solvent and avoid "flooding" would work equally well. When you're refluxing, you want the "reflux rin...