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Liebig condenser
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Liebig condenser or straight condenser is a piece of laboratory equipment consisting of a straight glass tube surrounded by a water jacket. Water is constantly circulated in the water jacket to help cool hot vapors, condensing them into liquid. It is used in distillation and reflux to condense vapors into liquid.
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Though named after the German chemist Justus Baron von Liebig, he cannot be given credit for having invented it because it was already in use for some time before him. However, it is believed that the apparatus was made popular by him.
The true inventors, all of them making the discovery independently, and the year of the invention were the German chemist Christian Ehrenfried Weigel in 1771, French scientist, P. J. Poisonnier, in 1779 and the Finnish chemist Johan Gadolin in 1791.
Liebig himself incorrectly attributed the design to the German pharmacist Johann Göttling who had made improvements to the Weigel design in 1794 [1].
The Liebig condenser is much more efficient than a simple retort due to its use of liquid cooling. Water can absorb much more heat than the same volume of air, and its constant circulation through the water jacket keeps the condenser's temperature constant. Therefore a Liebig condenser can condense a much greater flow of incoming vapour than an air condenser or retort.