Ethanol Oxidation With Dichromate

Dichromate ion in acidic conditions is a strong oxidizing agent. It can oxidize alcohols to carboxylic acids (if alcohol is primary) or ketones (if alcohol is secondary).

In this video you see reaction between ethanol (primary alcohol) and potassium dichromate. The solution must be acidic, so I've added some sulfuric acid to the solution. The products of this reaction are ethanoic acid (acetic acid), chromium(III) sulfate, potassium sulfate and water.

P.S. in video this reaction is four times faster than in reality.