A kaliapparat is a laboratory device invented in 1831 by Justus von Liebig

Justus von Liebig

Justus von Liebig was a German chemist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and worked on the organization of organic chemistry. As a professor, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the...

 (1803–1873) for the analysis of carbon

Carbon

Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...

 in organic compound

Organic compound

An organic compound is any member of a large class of gaseous, liquid, or solid chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of carbon-containing compounds such as carbides, carbonates, simple oxides of carbon, and cyanides, as well as the...

s. The device, made of glass, consists of a series of five bulbs connected and arranged in a triangular shape.

To determine the carbon in an organic compound with a kaliapparat, the substance is first burned, converting any carbon present into carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

 (CO₂). The vaporous products are passed through the kaliapparat, which is filled with potassium hydroxide

Potassium hydroxide

Potassium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula KOH, commonly called caustic potash.Along with sodium hydroxide , this colorless solid is a prototypical strong base. It has many industrial and niche applications. Most applications exploit its reactivity toward acids and its corrosive...

 (KOH) solution. The potaassium hydroxide reacts with the CO₂ to make potassium carbonate

Potassium carbonate

Potassium carbonate is a white salt, soluble in water , which forms a strongly alkaline solution. It can be made as the product of potassium hydroxide's absorbent reaction with carbon dioxide. It is deliquescent, often appearing a damp or wet solid...

. The reaction, ignoring ionic dissociation, can be written as follows: 2 KOH + CO₂ → K₂CO₃ + H₂O.

Subtracting the mass of the kaliapparat before the combustion from that found after the combustion gives the amount of CO₂ absorbed. From the mass of CO₂ thus found, standard stoichiometric

Stoichiometry

Stoichiometry is a branch of chemistry that deals with the relative quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions. In a balanced chemical reaction, the relations among quantities of reactants and products typically form a ratio of whole numbers...

calculations then give the mass of carbon in the original sample.