3.

0 METHODOLOGY
Experiment A: Solubility of Epsom salt in
ethanol, acetone and toluene.
3 beakers containing 60ml of ethanol, acetone
and toluene are prepared and labeled.

Experiment B: Determination of crystal

shape of Epsom salt (MgSO4).
1L of hot water is prepared and 500g of
Epsom salt is weighed.

9 crucibles are cleaned, weighed and labeled

before the experiment.

500g of Epsom salt is dissolved in the hot

water

The beaker with solvent ethanol is put on a

hot plate, Epsom salt is added slowly the the
solvent slowly and stirred until dissolved and
in excess at temperature of 28C, 33C and
38C.

All the valves of crystalliser are confirmed to

be closed.

The solution is poured inside the reaction

vessel, R1 of crystalliser using a small
funnel.

15ml of the solution at 3 different

temperatures are collected in 3 crucibles and
weighed. The wet weights are recorded.

The main switch and stirrer of the crystalliser

are turned on, the speed is set to be 200rpm.

The steps are repeated for acetone and

toluene.

After 2 hours, the main switch and stirrer are

turned off. The solution inside the reaction
vessel, R1 is drained off in a beaker.

All the crucibles is put inside furnace for

drying.

The weight of the crucibles are measured

constantly after cooling to room teperature
until a constant weight is obtained.

The beaker is covered with aluminium foil

and left overnight.

After 12 hours, the crystals formed are

collected by using filter paper and dried.

The solubility of Epsom salt in 3 solvents at

different teperatures are determined by using
the following formula:
(Mudalip et al., 2013)
where is the empty weight, is the wet
weight, is the dry weight.

The crystal structure is observed and drawn,

the crystal lattice of the salt is determined.

APPENDIX