October 23, 2013 Group: Michael Wu, Ian Ho, Arjun Sachar

Honors Chemistry Hydrate Lab

Purpose of the lab: To determine the formula of the hydrated compound (CuSO4) by determining the number of water molecules that attach to one formula unit. Procedure: 1. We will find the mass of the crucible by itself and denote this mass by C. 2. We will find the mass of the crucible with non-heated CuSO4 and denote this mass by M. 3. We will find the mass of the crucible with CuSO4 after heating out the water and denote this mass by H. 4. Using this data, we will determine the masses of water in our sample, and the CuSO4 in our sample. 5. Using these masses, we will determine how many moles of CuSO4 were in our sample and how many moles of water were in our sample. 6. Finally, we use the empirical molecular formula the determine the formula of the compound. Materials: -Safety goggles -Crucible -Hydrated compound (CuSO4 and H2O) -Ringstand -Metal Ring -Bunson Burner -Lighter -Scale -Clay triangle -Tongs

Data Table: Item Crucible with CuSO4 (Call the mass M) Crucible by itself (Call the mass C) Mass 20.585g 16.721g
2nd weighing: 19.684g

Crucible with CuSO4 after heating (Call the mass H) 1st weighing: 19.680g

Determining M Calculations:

Heating the CuSO4

Determining H

What is the mass of the ionic compound without water (also called the anhydrous compound)? How many moles is this? Mass of copper (II) sulfate in sample: J-C=19.680g-17.721g=1.595g Mass of 1 mole copper=63.55g Mass of 1 mole sulfate=32.07g+4*16.00g=96.07g Mass of 1 mole copper (II) sulfate=159.62g (1.595g CuSO4 in sample)/(159.62g CuSO4 in 1 mole)=0.009992 moles CuSO4 in sample What is the mass of the water heated away? How many moles is this? Mass of water in sample: M-J=20.585g-19.680g=0.905g Mass of 1 mole H2O=2*1.008g+16.00g=18.02g (0.905g H2O in sample)/(18.02g H20 in 1 mole)=0.0502 moles H2O in the sample What is the mole ratio of the ionic compound to the water? (0.009992 moles of CuSO4)/(0.0502 moles of H2O)=0.199 moles CuSO4/ 1.00 mole of H2O (0.199/0.199)(0.199 mole of CuSO4)/(1.00 mole of H2O)=(1.00 mole of CuSO4)/(5.03 moles of H2O) What is the formula of the reactant hydrate compound? CuSO4(H2O)5 What is the name of this compound? Copper (II) Sulfate Pentahydrate Part 2: Lab Discussion Questions: Make sure to address the following questions in your discussion section: Would the error cause your ratio to increase or decrease? 1. What was the actual ratio you obtained (with all significant digits)? What was your rounded ratio to whole numbers? Is your actual ratio higher or

lower than the rounded ratio? Research what the actual ratio should be. Is your answer too high or too low? What is the percent error? Our actual ratio we obtained was 1 : 5.03 (CuSO4:Water). Our rounded ratio to whole numbers was 1 : 5 (CuSO4:Water). This rounded ratio is 0.03 lower than the actual ratio. After research (Wikipedia), we found out that the actual ratio is in fact 1 : 5 (CuSO4:Water). Our rounded answer is spot on the actual ratio, and has a 0% error. However, the percent error for the non-rounded error would be 0.6%. Calculations: Predicted Value - Actual Value Actual Value x 100% = Percent Error

5.03 - 5.00 5.00 =0.06% Author: Ian Ho

x 100%

2. How would your ratio change if you did not dehydrate the compound fully? There would still be some H2O left in your compound (H2O that you would think is CuSO4), so your mass of CuSO4 would be higher than it should be, and your mass of H2O would be lower than it should be. By pure logic, this would clearly skew your ratio. Author: Michael Wu 3. Suppose some of the compound fell out of the test tube before heating but after massing. How would that change your ratio? When you are determining the mass of the water, what you are doing is subtracting the weight of the compound after heating from the weight of the compound before heating (M-H). This value should just be the weight of the H2O, but if some of your compound fell out, M-H would be the weight of the H2O+the weight of the compound that fell out. Also, since some of the compound fell out, you will lose some of the mass of the CuSO4. Therefore, what you think is the weight of the water would actually be higher than it should be, and what you think is the weight of the CuSO4 will be lower than it should be. Author: Michael Wu 4. How would your ratio change if the test tube was wet when the hydrated compound was added to it at the beginning of the experiment? Since your test tube has some H2O in it, then that is adding more H2O then there should be into your compound. Therefore, you will have more H2O then you should have per amount of CuSO4, so your ratio would be messed up (more H2O than there should be). Author: Michael Wu

5. How would your ratio relate to another groups who used the same compound, if you used 2.0 grams and they used 2.5grams? It should be the same, since all their weight values should just be scaled up by (2.5/2.0), and since ratios are not supposed to change just because you have a bigger sample. Author: Michael Wu 6. Suggest what might happen if you left the anhydrous compound to sit overnight before weighing it for your data? I dont think anything would happen. Since all the water has evaporated, the mass of the CuSO4 would change very little, perhaps a bit from radioactive decay or dust, but I think if you left it overnight before weighing it, your data should still be correct. Furthermore, CuSO4 is a stable compounds, and would not react with other elements under such circumstances. Author: Michael Wu 7. If you could improve this lab, what you do differently and why? Discuss at least three feasible improvements and why with reference to the other discussion questions and errors. (Note: relate this to #1 and the answers for the other questions). Since our answer is spot on to the actual answer, we would not have to improve a lot of things. However, if we were to improve this lab, we would try to use a better scale. Our scale was rusting a bit, and this could have affected the precision of our measurements. (As seen from the little increase of mass for the second weighing). Furthermore, we would also try to make the starting measurement of the scale as close to zero, as our second measurement started from around 0.01g. We think that the reason for a higher measurement for the second weighing is due to the scale and not dust or any other factor because the time of the transition from the ring stand to the scale and back to the ring stand was about one minute. In conclusion, as shown through are results for this lab, we were able to dehydrate the compound fully, make sure that all equipment were dry before use, and handle the compound carefully when moving it around. Thus if we were to do this lab again, we would not change many things. Author: Ian Ho Conclusion Statement: We took a sample of CuSO4 and H2O, and our goal was to determine the empirical molecular formula of the combination of CuSO4 and H2O. Theoretically, the answer we should have gotten is CuSO4(H2O)5 (from Wikipedia), and that was the answer we got. Editor: Arjun Sachar