Talk:Retort

Chemistry Mid‑importance

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Glass Low‑importance

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Questions

How does the neck act as a condenser ???

The glass in the neck is cooler than in the heated part of the retort, which in turn cools the distillate vapors to condense them. Air surrounding the neck can flow freely around it and also cools the neck and therefore the vapor inside it. This is not quite as efficient as a modern distillation set-up having a condenser with a cooling-water jacket around the inside tube (equivalent to the retort neck), where the cooling water continually flows throught the jacket, carrying away the heat. H Padleckas 05:35, 31 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Anybody seen one working in a lab? I own one but never saw one operating. The invention of the glas joints with grease or teflon made it obsolet even for very agressiv stuff wich was not usable with the liebig cooler with rubber stopper. Stone 14:44, 21 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Information needs to be added about the relation between retorts and "retort pouches," which are used to package read-to-eat meals. Tomgally 01:58, 18 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Generalization

A retort isn't always used to distill. It can be used simply to drive off volatile organic compounds, as in the charcoal-making process. I would like to make the introductory paragraph a bit more general so that it reflects this other use of a retort. Please post your objections here. 17:58, 22 June 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Neffk (talk • contribs)

No need for debate beforehand. Make your changes to see if there are objections. This is the Wikipedia policy known as Bold, revert, discuss. —EncMstr (talk) 18:32, 22 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]