[LHM]

If you mix acidified potassium dichromate and ethanol while heating it at the same time, what are the products?

Okay so I know that the ethanol will be oxidized because the dichromate ion is a good oxidizing agent, so Cr³⁺ as well as H₂O will be produced from the acidified dichromate ion.

As for the organic molecule though, I thought that the product would be ethanal, but it's supposedly acetic acid instead. I understand that if you were to oxidize the ethanal further, you would get acetic acid. But how do you know which one it will be if you're just told that a mixture of acidified potassium dichromate and ethanol are heated?

[Schrödinger]

Acidified potassium dichromate is a very strong oxidizing agent. Only mild/weak oxidizing agents will not be able to oxidize the ethanal further to ethanoic acid. For now, just remember it as a fact.

[AWK]

But when heating you can remove a very volatile acetaldehyde (boiling point ~20 C) from the reaction mixture. Of course this is not e method for acetaldehyde synthesis in high yield.