For alcohol dehydration with H$_2$SO$_4$, always check for carbocation stability, possible rearrangements, and apply Zaitsev's rule to predict the major product.
Step 1: Recognize the transformation. Treating an alcohol with concentrated H₂SO₄ and heat signifies an acid-promoted dehydration process. Step 2: Assess carbocation stability. The starting alcohol is secondary, so loss of water generates a secondary carbocation initially. Step 3: Check for structural rearrangement. Examine possible hydride or alkyl migrations; a shift can produce a more stable tertiary carbocation, which becomes the dominant intermediate. Step 4: Apply Zaitsev's guideline. Elimination preferentially yields the alkene with greater substitution at the double bond, forming adjacent to the carbocation center. Step 5: Depict the principal product. After rearrangement and elimination, the most highly substituted alkene emerges as the major product. Step 6: Stereochemistry note. Stereochemical details are not relevant here, so the chief product is simply the Zaitsev alkene.
