Question

When doing your extraction you were asked to vent your extraction funnel occasionally during the extraction. Why?

You were instructed not to shake the extraction layers too vigorously. Why?

What type of compound could cause the layers not to separate cleanly?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Did you extract with ether? That, or whatever solvent you used, is quite volatile and you must vent it. The more you shake it, especially at the beginning, the more vapors are trapped.