Bromine Water

• Alkenes are more reactive than alkanes
• Alkenes react when shaken with bromine water , turning it from orange to colourless - This can be used to differentiate between alkanes and alkenes
• Ethene (colourless) + bromine water (orange brown) --> colourless solution
• Ethane (colourless) + bromine water (orange brown) --> orange brown solution
• Ethan reacts with bromine to form dibromoethane in an addition reaction - The symbol equation for this reaction is : C₂H₄ + Br₂ --> CH₂BrCH₂Br
• Other halogens react with alkenes in a similar way to bromine