Question

Which of the following is the purest form of charcoal?
A. Wood charcoal
B. Animal Charcoal
C. Sugar Charcoal
D. Bone Charcoal

Answer 1

Hint: Charcoal is a man-made lightweight black carbon residue produced by the strong heating of wood to high temperatures in absence of oxygen to wash away all volatile constituents. It is present in various forms and the purest form is decided according to the presence of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and ash content present in them.

Complete step by step answer:
Wood charcoal is formed by the destructive distillation of wood with products such as wood tar, wood gas, wood charcoal, and pyroligneous acid. It is a hundred percent natural with no additives. It produces quite a little ash and burns very few times. It is not the purest form of charcoal.
Animal charcoal is fine charcoal formed by calcining bones in a closed vessel. It is used as a filtering agent in sugar refining, also as an absorbent and as a disinfectant. It is carbon obtained from the carbonization of the organic tissue of animals.
Sugar charcoal is obtained from the carbonization of sugar and is in particular pure. It is also prepared by the dehydration of sugar in presence of concentrated sulfuric acid. It is the purest form of amorphous carbon. It removes water from the sugar and leaves behind a black residue of carbon. Hence it is the purest form of charcoal.
Bone charcoal is a porous black material produced by heating bone in the presence of a limited amount of air. It is used in removing coloured impurities from a liquid. It consists mainly of tricalcium phosphate and seven percent carbon.
Therefore the purest form of charcoal is sugar charcoal

So, the correct answer is Option C .

Note: Sugar charcoal is used to prepare artificial diamonds. When it is heated at a high temperature it gets converted into an artificial diamond. It is also used as a reducing agent in the extraction of metals and acts as a decolourising agent.