Lab Report: Experiment 4

Title: Analysis using decomposition reaction.

Aim:
● Heat a hydrate salt to drive off the water and use the collected data to determine the formula of
the original hydrate.
● Decompose a sample of impure potassium chlorate by heating and use the collected data to
determine the percentage of potassium chlorate in the original sample.

Procedure: Refer to manual (Pg: 32-37)

Results:
A. Determining the Formula of a Hydrate
Table 1

Mass of Crucible and Lid (g) 20.95

Mass of Crucible, lid and hydrate sample : 21.39

Before heating (g)

Mass of Crucible, lid and hydrate sample : 21.25

After heating (g)

Table 2
Mass of Hydrate sample before heating (g) 0.44

Mass of Hydrate sample after heating 0.30

( Mass of anhydrous BaCl₂ Produced) (g)

Mass of water lost (g) 0.008

Moles of water lost 0.00145 mol

Moles of Anhydrous BaCl₂ produced 5.50 mol

Ratio: 5.51
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡
𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛ℎ𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝐵𝑎𝑐𝑙₂ 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑
Whole-Number Ratio 6

Formula of Hydrate BaCl₂·6H₂O

 B. Determining the Percentage of KClO₃
𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐾𝐿𝑂𝐶₃ 𝐷𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑
%𝐾𝐶𝐿𝑂₃ = × 100%
𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑛𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒

Table 3
Mass of Empty test tube (g) 29.79

Mass of test tube and sample: Before heating (g) 30.23

Mass of test tube and sample: After heating (g) 30.16

Table 4
Mass of sample that was heated (g) 0.44

Mass of oxygen lost (g) 0.07

Moles of Oxygen lost 0.002

Moles of KClO₃ Decomposed 0.0013

(Moles of KClO₃ in sample)

Mass of KClO₃ Decomposed 0.16

(Mass of KClO₃ in sample) (g)

Percentage of KClO₃ in sample (%) 36

Conclusion:
Impure substances can be heated to produce pure substance. Moles allows to find the number of
atoms/molecules in a substance. By using the formula of moles, mass of certain atoms can be calculated as
well as the percentage composition of it in a certain molecule.

Discussion:
Analysis using decomposition can be used to determine the amount of water present in the hydrate sample
and determining the percentage of a specific substance in a mixture. By heating, we found that 6 Moles of
water was present in a hydrated sample of Barium chloride. In this part of the experiment, it is important to
leave an opening when covering the crucible to allow all of the water vapor to escape and to allow the
crucible to cool back to room temperature to prevent burns. In addition, paying close attention when adding
and weighing the sample to make sure there is no spillage.
In Part B of the experiment, it was found that only 36% of the mixture used had KClO₃ present. In step 5 of
this experiment, the heating must be controlled carefully as excess heating could spill some of the content
which could burn skin and ignite certain materials. The entire experiment would also need to be repeated as
it would influence calculations made later.

Questions:
1. Make it less than the Correct Value. If the Crucible is not heated long enough, some amount of
water still remains in the sample after heating. This, in turn, decreases the moles of water loss and
increases the moles of Anhydrous BaCl₂ produced, both values which are used to Calculate the ratio
and Conclude the Formula of hydrate.
2. Make it greater than the correct value. As the crucible, lid and sample is weighed together before
and after heating these values will include the Actual weight of the crucible and lid, and will still be
correct. However, when the Mass of the Sample after heating is calculated the recorded value for the
 Crucible and the lid would result in a smaller value for the moles of Anhydrous BaCl₂, thus
increasing the value of n.
3. Make it greater than the correct value. Since the mass of the Hydrate sample after heating would
be less, the moles of the same sample would be smaller. A smaller value of moles would result in a
larger ratio of Moles of water lost: Moles of Anhydrous BaCl₂.
4. Would not influence the determined percentage. A larger Initial Mass has no effect on future
calculations.
5. Make it greater than the correct value. Given that water present in the test tube made it heavier
resulting calculations will indicate a lower value for the mass of sample that was heated in table 4.
According to the equation used to calculate the percentage, a lower value for the unknown sample
mass would increase the percentage.
6. Make it greater than the correct value. Calculating Mass of Oxygen being lost involves
Subtracting the Mass of the test tube and its content before and after heating. Since some of the mass
has been lost, the recorded value for the test tube and sample after heating is larger. According to the
instructions for the calculations, this would eventually result in a larger value for the mass of KClO₃
which results in a higher percentage