[DannyBoi]

Hi all, this lab report is scrambling my brains. We separated an equimolar amount of cyclohexane and toluene and then used GC to analyze the fractions we got, including first 5 drops.

I'm trying to figure out the number of theoretical plates provided by my fractional distillation column and I need to use the Fenske equation as stated in my book: total number of theoretical plates = [log(nA/nB)]/log(alpha) where nA/nB is the ratio of the number of moles of cyclohexane to number of moles toluene and alpha is 2.33.

After using gas chomatography and getting the graphs for the initial 5 drops distilled and 4 more fractions in specifiec temp ranges, I'm confused as to how to get nA/nB. I found a formula: mass % of A = (peak area of A / sum of areas) x 100% and same for B

But then the book says to multiply the areas I got by correction factors (1.11 and 1.05) to get relative masses of cyclo and toluene. I'm confused by how to go about actually getting nA/nB. Any advice is appreciated seeing as I emailed my T.A. 5 days ago and have gotten no response.

BTW I know it's kind of odd to just ask questions without putting out exactly all the information, if anyone has Operational Organic Chemistry 4th Ed. By Lehman, it's Experiment 6 in mastering the operations section.