What are meant by reflux conditions and why are they used?
Igloo writes ………. If you have a look at page 33 in the Nuffield Students Book you will find a photograph and diagram of a reflux apparatus. You can see here that it involves a condenser arranged vertically above a boiling flask (a pear-shaped flask in this diagram). Reflux conditions imply that the experiment will involve the use of this type of apparatus. When organic substances in the liquid form or in solution are reacting together, they usually do so rather slowly, so the mixture has to be heated in order to increase the rate of the reaction, and to ensure that as many of the reactants have been used up as possible. When the liquid mixture is heated, it eventually boils, and if this operation were to be carried out in a beaker (or open flask) there would be several undesirable consequences of this. The vapours from the boiling liquids escaping from the apparatus would in all probability be toxic or, at the very least, harmful to health. These vapours would also be likely to b
