What would happen if boiling chips are not added to the distillation flask”?
that last answer is just plain wrong so don’t pay attention to it. The rest seemed ok. Boiling chips provide a point where bubbles can form so you get a nice even boiling. This also allows the boiling to occur at teh correct temperature without super heating. Kind a fun trick is if you have new glassware heat some distilled water in it and it will get very hot and bump boil meaning huge bubbles every now and then and not uniform. Bumbing can cause your apparatus to shake and crack joints once the water starts to bumb add some boiling chips and it will all of a sudden start to boil like mad. The temp comes down a bit and you get a nice uniform boil. When distilling it is possible to super heat and then when it boils it is a flash boil thing and the whole sample shoots up your column…………….Been there done that with a rotovap once.
