The following instructions are from an experimental procedure for the preparation of cyclohexene from cyclohexanol and concentrated phosphoric acid.
Read these instructions and answer the questions that follow.
1 Place 25 cm3 of cyclohexanol into a round-bottomed flask with some porous pot to act as anti-bumping granules. Add 10 cm3 of concentrated phosphoric acid carefully while shaking the flask. Cool the flask under the tap if it gets too hot.
Make sure the reagents are thoroughly mixed.
2 Set up an apparatus for simple distillation using this flask.
3 Warm the flask, gently at first, for about 15 minutes. Then increase the heating so that cyclohexene begins to distil over. Collect the fraction that distils below 95 °C.
a) State the purpose of the anti-bumping granules.